The Transformation of Chinese Traditional Education : Selected Papers by Tao Xingzhi on Education [1 ed.] 9789004302853, 9789004302846

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The Transformation of Chinese Traditional Education

Brill’s Series on Chinese Education Series Editor Gerard A. Postiglione (The University of Hong Kong)

VOLUME 03

The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/bsce

The Transformation of Chinese Traditional Education Selected Papers by Tao Xingzhi on Education By

Tao Xingzhi† Translated by

Ji Linying Zhang Xin Xin Nan Chen Lijuan

LEIDEN | BOSTON

This book is the result of a co-publication agreement between Higher Education Press Limited Company and Koninklijke Brill nv. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Tao, Xingzhi, 1891-1946, author. Title: The transformation of Chinese traditional education : selected papers by Tao Xingzhi on education /  by Tao Xingzhi ; translated by Ji Linying, Zhang Xin, Xin Nan, Chen Lijuan. Description: Leiden ; Boston : Brill, [2016] | Series: Brill’s series on Chinese education,  ISSN 2212-7437 ; volume 3 | A co-publication of Higher Education Press Limited Company and  Koninklijke Brill NV. | Includes index. Identifiers: LCCN 2016025971 (print) | LCCN 2016033180 (ebook) | ISBN 9789004302846  (hardback : acid-free paper) | ISBN 9789004302853 (e-book) Subjects: LCSH: Tao, Xingzhi, 1891-1946--Political and social views. | Education--China--Philosophy.  | Education--China--History--20th century--Sources. | Educational change--China--History--20th  century--Sources. | China--Social conditions--1912-1949--Sources. Classification: LCC LB775 . T17 2016 (print) | LCC LB775 (ebook) | DDC 370.951--dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016025971

Typeface for the Latin, Greek, and Cyrillic scripts: “Brill”. See and download: brill.com/brill-typeface. issn 2212-7437 isbn 978-90-04-30284-6 (hardback) isbn 978-90-04-30285-3 (e-book) Copyright 2016 by Koninklijke Brill nv, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill nv incorporates the imprints Brill, Brill Hes & De Graaf, Brill Nijhoff, Brill Rodopi and Hotei Publishing. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill nv provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, ma 01923, usa. Fees are subject to change. Brill has made all reasonable efforts to trace all rights holders to any copyrighted material used in this work. In cases where these efforts have not been successful the publisher welcomes communications from copyright holders, so that the appropriate acknowledgements can be made in future editions, and to settle other permission matters. This book is printed on acid-free paper and produced in a sustainable manner.

Contents Foreword: Tao Xingzhi’s Ideas and Thoughts on Education vIi

part 1 On Schooling 1

The Integration of Teaching and Learning 3

2

My Views on School 6

3

Life is Education 9

4

Features of Life Education 16

5

About Student Self-governance 19

6

Cultivating Creativity in Children 28

7

The First Class Educator 35

part 2 Reform of China’s Education 8

The Improvement of China’s Education 39

9

The New Education 46

10

The Fundamental Reform of China’s Rural Education 57

11

An Outline for Democratic Education 59

12

Experimentalism and New Education 67

13

Utilitarianism and Professional Education 71

14

On Developing Teachers’ Education System in China 81

vi

CONTENTS

15

On Developing Early Childhood Education in Rural China 88

16

On Developing Experimental Teachers’ Schools in Rural China 92

part 3 Education for All 17

The People’s Education Movement in China 101

18

Educating the Masses 114

19

Unity of Five Nationalities and Responsibilities of Educators 126

20 The Social University Movement 130 21

A Proposal for Universal Education in China 134

22

The Universalization of Early Childhood Education 149

23

The Education of Peasants 152

Index 155

Foreword: Tao Xingzhi’s Ideas and Thoughts on Education Xie Ailei and Gerard A. Postiglione This book introduces Tao Xingzhi’s ideas on education. Tao died just before the establishment of the People’s Republic of China. However, his influence has persisted especially since China’s economic reform and opening to the outside world began in the 1980s (Zhou 2011; Zhu 2011). Tao Xingzhi was educated during the late Qing Dynasty and early Republican Eras. He was heavily influenced by both Confucius’ teaching and Western educational thought, especially the theories of John Dewey’s ideas on education (Brown 1987; Yao 2002). Born in She County (歙县) in Anhui to a rural family in 1891, Tao Xingzhi began his education at age six in a sishu (a traditional style private school, 私塾) run by a xiucai (scholar 秀才), who had passed the imperial examination at the county level. At the age of nine, Tao moved with his father to Xiuning (休宁) in today’s Anhui Province and continued his education in a jingguan (the senior level of the traditional style private school 经馆). Like his contemporaries of that time, Tao studied the Confucian classics and prepared himself for entering the guanxue (state schools 官学) and shuyuan (academies 书院) for the imperial examination. In 1905, the year when the keju (Imperial Examination 科举) was abolished after having been administered in China for nearly a thousand years, many Chinese students entered educational institutions to study knowledge from the West. Tao entered a Christian school run by the China Inland Mission, the former Overseas Missionary Fellowship. This brought him into contact with Western education where he studied English, mathematics, chemistry, and physics. He was set to continue his education at the Guangji Medical School (广济医学堂) in Hangzhou where he intended to study Western medicine to save lives and build a strong nation. However, Tao abruptly left the school when he felt it discriminated against students who were not Christian. In 1909, he entered the University of Nanking, which had been established by the Methodist Church in 1888. People with degrees from this university were accepted directly into graduate schools in America. Tao studied Western philosophy, literature, natural science, and cultivated a belief in democracy and science, as well as a spirit for revolution. As a politically active student, he served as the chief editor of the Chinese edition of the University of Nanking’s Magazine and published over twenty articles. He promoted the ideas of

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democracy to his university colleagues. When the Revolution of 1911 established the Chinese Republic, Tao and other intellectuals of his generation aimed to build a strong democratic China that eliminated poverty and backwardness. When he graduated from Nanking in 1914, Tao chose studied political science at the University of Illinois with the goal of returning to China and working in municipal government. After obtaining a degree in politics, he transferred to Columbia University to earn a degree in education. There, he met John Dewey and learned about progressive education. Tao aimed to make China prosperous by educating its people and in 1917, accepted an invitation from Guo Bingwen, the president of Nanjing Higher Normal School (now the Southeast University) to become a Registrar and Professor of education. Tao championed national educational reforms with important ideas that can be traced back to his early days in Nanjing Higher Normal School. Tao had reason to believe that education was the key vehicle for saving China through science and democracy. With Cai Yuanpei, Peking University’s first President, Tao created the Chinese Association for Educational Advancement (1917) and served as the organization’s secretary. With his help, the School Decree of 1922 initiated the creation of the first modern education system in China. The following year, he helped set up the National Association for the Mass Education Movement with James Yen and worked to promote literacy in rural China. In 1927, he established Xiaozhuang Normal College (晓庄师范学院). The political turmoil caused Tao to leave China in 1930 for Japan. After his return in 1931, he resumed a career of promoting education for the masses and initiated the Little Teacher Movement near Shanghai (1931). After Japan’s invasion and occupation of China in the late 1930s and 1940s, Tao came to believe in a more revolutionary solution to China’s ills. His work began to expand beyond the arena of education and he was selected as a member of the standing committee of the All-China Federation of National Salvation Unions (1936). Tao initiated the China Democratic Political League, and was selected as a member of the central committee of the China Democratic League (1945). He also created the Yucai School in Chongqing, a school for gifted orphans. One of the graduates was Li Peng, the premier of China from 1988 to 1998. Tao died of a stroke in Shanghai at the age of fifty-five. Tao Xingzhi has been influential in education and social reforms in contemporary China (Bin 2004; Dong 1997; Zeng 1988; Zhou 2007). He is also one of the very few figures in whose name a national association has been established to commemorate his life and work. Over twenty articles, the most widely known that are written by him, have been selected for this book. These articles touch on the key aspects of his ideas on education and their implications for

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recent educational reforms in China. Three aspects of his thinking are worth mentioning. First, Tao’s writings have important theoretical implications but are also heavily oriented toward policy or practice. Tao was inspired by the revolution of the first two decades of the 1900s, the building of a new democratic republic, and the potential of education to build a new nation. He believed that education should prepare citizens for the newborn nation, cultivate in them a republican consciousness, and equip them with the skills for governing themselves. Tao also saw education as a tool for developing the nation as an entity, and he argued that China’s education system should be reformed systematically in terms of both policies at the national level and teaching at the classroom level. For these reasons, he wrote systematic proposals for developing early childhood education, vocational education, and teacher training. He also wrote detailed plans about how to promote literacy and make universalize education. In proposals on developing a teacher training system for China, Tao wrote in detail about what should be taught in normal schools and how teachers should teach. He also wrote that a universal education system could be achieved by reforming the traditional style private schools and making them accessible to all children. He insisted that more middle schools should be founded in China’s vast rural areas and normal schools could be established to train large numbers of teachers. He wrote in detail about teaching materials for universalizing education. As a firm believer of science in education, he advocated also for the establishment of a central research institute on education, which, he believed, could facilitate the establishment of a universal education system in China. Tao’s writings are highly convincing and practical. His basic aim was to find the best way to educate Chinese people for citizenship in a strong republic. Second, Tao’s ideas on education and his plans for developing China’s educational system were grounded in the Chinese social and cultural contexts. Although he was heavily influenced by John Dewey, as suggested by his school experience and later career in China, Tao by no means adopted Dewey’s progressivism unaltered. For Tao, the reforms that Dewey proposed for the American education system were only suitable for a developed capitalist nation like the United States. Tao gained inspiration from Dewey but creatively reinvented his ideas on education and society according to the Chinese context. For him, China was an underdeveloped country, and the methods it used to develop its education system should be economical. For example, rather than moving society into schools, as Dewey argued, he pointed out all the things that were available outside schools could be used as educational materials. Friedrich Frobel’s and Montessori’s ideas on education were also beneficial to Tao.

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However, Tao understood the social reality in China and reexamined the relevance of their ideas to the Chinese social and cultural context. He pointed out that kindergarten education in China at that time was flawed because it copied too directly from systems abroad. Tao was aware that China huge population made it unique from other developed countries. He noted that education should be a lifelong learning process and that informal learning should be important in China. For example, he argued that a university education could be offered in different ways, such as through night universities, morning universities, and distance learning. Influenced by the revolutionary spirit of the early 1900s, Tao was also a believer in both science and democracy, which he thought were necessary for liberating people, as well as being the medicine that could cure Chinese society’s ills. However, he also noticed that in an agricultural country like China, a new education system that was democratic in nature could serve the masses and help them to fulfill their potential. We can see from to his writings, Tao could not be labeled as believer of Confucianism, progressivism, or Marxism; he was himself. Third, Tao’s ideas on education remain relevant in contemporary China. Although most of Tao’s writings were published six decades ago, his ideas about reforming the Chinese education system still have value as many similar challenges of strengthening rural education and building a strong nation persist. For example, until recently, the teaching practices in many of China’s schools were being criticized for being teacher-centered. As Tao had argued over half a century ago, pedagogy in Chinese schools should involve both teachers and students on an equal basis. Good teaching practices should be learnercentered. The best method of teaching is to teach students how to learn— a philosophy behind the recent reform of the curriculum in China. Tao also stated that teachers should learn and develop professionally through their teaching and contact with students. This idea has is reflected in recent literature about teacher development and policy documents published by different levels of government. Tao believed in the power of education and argued that schools had the power to transform the lives of Chinese people. For this reason, he argued that schools should help students to seek knowledge relevant to their lives and the lives of the all citizens—an aim of the Chinese education system today. Tao’s unmistakable emphasis on providing equal education opportunities to people from different social groups is especially relevant for China today. He pointed out, in particular, that the establishment of a strong Chinese nation should be based on the education of the rural population. He argued that the education of people in rural areas was of crucial importance in China’s transition from an agricultural to an industrial country. He proposed establishing a

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compulsory education system in rural areas. Educating the rural masses and improving their literacy would, according to Tao, benefit the nation as a whole. Tao also called for equal opportunities in education for women and people of different ethnicities. For him, the creation of a system that was equal for all minorities was important for the creation of a prosperous and republican China. He insisted, in particular, that ethnic minorities should have the same rights as the majority Han Chinese and that their own writing systems and languages should be used in their schools. He argued that a democratic education system should provide equal chances for men as well as women, the rich as well as the poor, and the old as well as the young. References Bin, T. 2004. “Tao Xingzhi Phenomena and the Political Construction of Tao’s Image: A Social Analysis of ‘Common Narrative’ before and after 1949 in China.” Journal of Nanjing Xiaozhuang College 1: 6–19. Brown, H.O. 1987. “American Progressivism in Chinese Education: The Case of Tao Xingzhi.” In China’s education and the industrialized world: Studies in cultural transfer, edited by Bastid, Marianne, and Ruth Hayhoe, 120–38. New York: ME Sharpe, Inc. Dong, B. 1997. “Tao Xingzhi’s Thoughts on China and Western Education.” Educational Research 1: 23–27. Yao, Y. 2002. “The Making of a National Hero: Tao Xingzhi’s Legacies in the People’s Republic of China.” The Review of Education, Pedagogy and Cultural Studies 24 (3): 251–81. Zeng, Z. 1988. “A Chinese View of the Educational Ideas of John Dewey.” Interchange 19 (3): 85–91. Zhou, H. 2007. “Tao Xingzhi: The Pioneer of Life Education.” Life Education 3: 9–13. ———. 2011. Tao Xingzhi’s Ideas on Life Education. Wuhan: Hubei Educational Publishing House. Zhu, X. 2011. “An Immortal: A Speech on the 120th Birthday Celebration of Tao Xingzhi.” Education Research and Review 6: 18–20.

part 1 On Schooling

∵

chapter 1

The Integration of Teaching and Learning1 People now refer to one who mentors in schools as a teacher, refer to the business he does as the teaching of books, and refer to the methodology he uses as teaching pedagogy, as if a mentor is somebody specialized in teaching students some booklore. It seems that he has no skills other than teaching and has nothing but books to teach, whereas students in this kind of schools have no work other than to be taught. The mentor does nothing but teach, the student does nothing but be taught, such that it seems everything about learning has been eliminated but that about teaching. In regard to the name, it is actually the learning institution; whereas in terms of the entity, it is more like the teaching institution. It is all because teaching is exceedingly overrated, such that it is insensibly isolated from learning. However, teaching and learning really cannot be separated, they really should be integrated. As far as I am concerned, there are three reasons that teaching and learning should be integrated. First, a mentor’s responsibility does not lie in teaching, but in teaching how to learn, in teaching students how to learn. In general, mentors in the world can be divided into three categories. The first category knows nothing but the teaching of books. He can only take a book and ask children to read it, to recite it. He makes the lively children into bookshelves and wastebaskets. These mentors are like manufacturers of bookshelves and wastebaskets, the schools are like factories of bookshelves and wastebaskets. The second category of mentors does not teach books, he teaches the students. The focus of his attention has switched from books to students. Instead of adjusting students to match the books as previously described, now he chooses the books to match the students. Not only would he choose the books to match the students, he would also provide the students with whatever they need. This method is indeed much better than the first one. However, students are still in a passive 1 This article is one of the series of essays Tao Xingzhi published in the column “World’s New Trend of Thought in Education.” It was originally published on Feb. 24, 1919, in Times, Weekly Education, World’s New Trend of Thought in Education, the first volume, where he advocated the integration of teaching and learning. Shortly after, he further proposed that the way of doing things determines the way of learning, while the way of learning determines the way of teaching, which later developed into a complete system about the integration of teaching, learning, and doing.

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position, because the mentor won’t be able to follow students for all of their life. A passionate mentor, of course wants to deliver all he has to students, but new knowledge in the world is infinite, how could the mentor disclose all the mysteries under the sun to the students? Since it’s not possible to disclose them all, what he can give to the students is limited. The rest of it remains for the students to find out on their own. Moreover, if everything may be taught by a mentor, why is it necessary to be a student since there are mentors? Therefore, to teach students with ready-made materials, eventually is inappropriate. Then, what should a mentor be? I think a good mentor does not teach books, or students, he teaches the students to learn. What does it mean to teach the students to learn? It is to connect the teaching and the learning: on the one hand, the mentor is responsible for instruction, on the other hand, the student is responsible for learning. In answering a question, the mentor is not supposed to provide the student with the ready-to-use resolution, but to clarify the process of finding this solution, to instruct him so that he can experience a similar process, come up with a similar idea, and find the solution on his own in the shortest time. In addition, the student can take advantage of the experience and use it to find other solutions, to solve other problems. By acquiring this kind of experience and knowledge, the student can then explore the origins of and inquire into the closure of knowledge. It then won’t be hard to acquire and practice all the knowledge in the world. This is the so-called “selffulfillment” according to Mencius, it is also the “self-motivation” contemporary educationalists advocate. Therefore, if we want students to self-fulfill and to self-motivate, there must first be mentors who teach them how to learn. This is the first reason that teaching and learning should be integrated. Second, the teaching method must be based on the learning method. The mentor in ancient times simply taught students in the way he favored; anything about the students’ talents or interests were ignored. He particularly forced students to fit into his teaching pedagogy and his teaching material. On the one hand, in using this method, the mentor gets limited results. On the other hand, the students suffer from having to conform. These are both the defects of not integrating learning and teaching. If the teaching method is unaffectedly by the learning method, then the mentor will gain more success with less effort, and the students will enjoy learning. Therefore, the way of learning determines the way of teaching; learn more, then teach more; learn less, then teach less; learn fast, then teach fast, learn slowly, then teach slowly. This is the second reason that teaching and learning should be integrated. Third, not only should the mentor connect his teaching method with students’ learning methods but he should also connect it with his own knowledge. As a mentor, one should keep learning as he teaches. The knowledge one has

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obtained is not unlimited for him to pass on throughout his whole life. A common fault in education is that everybody copies what he has learnt before and passes that on to students. Take a look at what is on the bookshelf in many mentors’ study rooms, there are merely a few old reference books they’ve read before, and even these a few books are not necessarily reviewed, let alone any new knowledge or new progress. Since the mentor doesn’t make any progress, the students can hardly make any progress, which is also a defect of separating teaching and learning. A good mentor is not like that, he must instruct students and conduct research at the same time. Just as Professor F. Paulsen2 from Berlin University said, “In Germany, the faculties in universities are scientists. And the scientists are faculties.” The well-developed academics in Germany are primarily dependent on this spirit of mutually beneficial teaching and learning. Because of the constant research, it is possible to constantly gather new findings. Not only is the teaching enriched, which means the students benefit more, but it is also a delightful thing for the mentor to constantly publish new materials. The infinitely boring lifestyle in education is because people in this field stand still and fail to step forward. Confucius said, “To learn without being bored, to teach without being tired.” This is truly someone experienced in sharing his insight. Because one must first learn without being bored before he can teach without being tired. Otherwise if the same content is repeated year by year, I think it is utterly bald. Hence I think to achieve the joyfulness of educating the talent, it seems necessary to integrate teaching and learning. This is the third reason that teaching and learning should be integrated. To sum up: first, the responsibility of a mentor is to teach students to learn; second, the teaching method of a mentor must be based on the learning method; third, the mentor must learn while teaching. These are the three reasons teaching and learning should be integrated. The first two reasons indicate that the teaching offered by a mentor should be connected with students’ learning; the third reason indicates that the teaching offered by a mentor should be connected with the mentor’s own learning. With such connections, both the mentor and the students would then be able to self-fulfill and self-motivate, both would have the opportunity and the means to seek priceless new knowledge.

2 F. Paulsen (1846–1908), German philosopher, moralist, educationalist. He wrote “A System of Ethics” Paulsen, F. (1911). A System of Ethics. New York: C. Scribner’s Sons.

chapter 2

My Views on School1 The school has great power. It can transform bad students into good ones, and vice versa. It can make people outstanding, or unpromising, as well. It is able to help people live longer, or cause an earlier death. The school shall be life-oriented. In each day, education should happen in every aspect of life, from morning to evening. For each person, education should concern all aspects of the person, both physical and mental. In the school, education should happen in all places, from the kitchen to the bathroom. The school can be lively or mechanical. The school focuses on the life of the students, the whole school, and the whole day is a lively school. The mechanical school only focuses on textbooks. The kind of schools between these two is half mechanical. The school is a place where the teachers and the students live together. They have to share happiness and woe, so that they will have spiritual communication and form a harmonious relationship. Both the teachers and the students shall have common interests in the national affairs and the world’s trends. In the school, the teachers and the students shall support each other and develop close relationships. There should not be any estrangement, or any status differentiation. They should influence each other with noble personalities and good habits. People usually expect the teachers’ to influence the students. They seldom realize that the students’ influence on each other and on the teachers is even stronger. The teachers will feel younger when they get along with young people, almost without noticing it. That’s the students’ influence. Being questioned by the students, the teachers cannot slack off on their own studies. The teachers are trained by students in this way. This is unavoidable, and is also a good thing. In sum, how harmonious the shared life of the teachers and the 1 This article was originally published in the monthly magazine Hui Yin 29–30 (November 5, 1926). There was an editor’s note from Cheng Benhai after the article: “This article written by Mr. Tao is a proclamation of the lively school. It can be used anywhere in the republic country. It is especially suitable for the schools in Huizhou. So they should pay much attention to it. After these schools in my hometown have read the article, I wish they can ask themselves a question: ‘Is my school a lively one or a mechanical one?’ If it is a mechanical one, they should turn it into a lively one. If it is a lively one, they should make it livelier, and be lively forever. We have a common request that there are only lively schools in our Huizhou, no mechanical ones. And we further require that all the lively schools create a lively Huizhou together.”

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students is, how lively the school can be. This cannot be disguised. In Li Bai’s poem, “The Yellow River’s water comes from the heaven. It rushes into the sea without any return.” This is similar to students’ mentality. Running a school, is just like water conservancy. We shall guide the students’ spirits as we would dredge a river, and let them spend their energy on the things beneficial to their lives. If we suppress the student’s energy instead of guiding them, there will be a flood. Fitness is the starting point of life and a crucial aspect of school education. There should be a lively and solid foundation for us to learn knowledge and morality. This foundation is fitness. As the saying goes, “The illness finds its way in through the mouth.” We shall be aware that when we run a school, we start from the kitchen and the dining hall. Life is like a plant. Its growing and blooming depends on its capacity to absorb nutrients. The teaching and administrative staff should be modest and insatiable in their learning. I argue that not only the teachers but also the administrative staff should be constantly learning. Since the school is lifeoriented, all kinds of affairs should have some educational meaning. From the principle to the chef and the school workers, they all have their own duties. So they all need to enhance their own knowledge and skills. There are two ways to do that. One is to read the relevant books. The other is to seek advice from the experts. If a school wants to have a nice life, it should install a tube to connect to the “spring of knowledge,” so that the new knowledge will come continuously. The school life is only a part of the social life. The school is not a Taoist temple or a Buddhist temple. It shall have close connections with the life of society. If it wants to influence society, it should be willing to be socialized in the first place. The school life is the starting point of the social life. We need a vision, and also need to start working on things around us. To transform the social environment, we shall start from transforming the school environment. All the teachers and students in the school should renovate the school environment together, as if they are doing the art work. We won’t let go anything that needs to be remolded. This is the true spirit of renovating the school environment. If the teachers and students cannot transform the school’s environment together, they are deluding themselves that they could transform the social environment. The noble spirit of life cannot be bought, or promoted by money. It cannot be shuffled by the excuse “I don’t have money” either. If you don’t have money, you surely cannot buy the things that can be purchased by money. But you can still acquire those things that the money cannot buy. The noble spirit is

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inexhaustible, like the moonlight over the mountains and the breeze over the river. Lacking money does not prevent people from having a noble spirit. I have seen rich schools have poor spirit. I have also seen poor schools having high spirit. Spirit can never be purchased. The spirit is inside our own bodies. How large a proportion of the spirit we release will be shown through us. It is not about money. It is only about if we are willing to release the spirit. If we want the school life to be lively and successful, we have to put it out in the sunshine. Plants grow in sunshine, while microbes grow in darkness. So I would suggest that schools should open to the public, such as the parents, the educational administrators, and all people who have paid the education tax. The principle and the faculty ought to welcome people to visit and offer criticism, so that they can correct any deficiencies. It is certain that the school can be developed well in the sunshine, sustainably. I don’t expect the school to have super high criteria. I only have one criterion that I wish the school to meet, which is that the people who run the school are willing to send their own children to their school. It happened often in the Qing Dynasty that the people who ran the school didn’t let their own children attend it. The public opinion at that time considered that to be unforgivable. Nowadays, people who are in charge of the education in provinces and counties often worry that there are no good schools for their own children. They even send their children to schools run by others. I don’t understand that. I have a suggestion for people running schools, “Please treat the students as your own children.” September 20, 1926

chapter 3

Life is Education1 My topic today is Life Is Education. “Education of life,” a phrase spoken by Mr. Dewey, has been very popular in China. We are very familiar with it and have used it a lot. However, we never asked what intention it has. Now, I’m going to invert it into “life is education.” We would ask, “What is life?” Life is something alive and lives in some environment. Take a seed, for example, it can sprout and bloom in some places without being noticed by people. Its movement looks like the performance of Xiaozhuang Drama Club.2 I have developed two sets of theories on the topic “life is education.” I will strike the old tune again. The first one is: The life is education. The good life is good education, and the bad life is bad education. The serious life is serious education, and the careless life is careless education. The rational life is rational education, and the irrational life is irrational education. If there is no life, there is no education. The so-called “life,” might not be the real life, so it might not be education. The second one was added in my second talk, according to our five local targets here: The healthy life is education of being healthy, and the unhealthy life is unhealthy education.

1 On January 16, 1930, the national seminar of the village school teachers was held in Xiaozhuang, Nanjing. This was the speech Tao Xingzhi made at the seminar, as documented by Dai Zian, Sun Mingxun. It was originally published in Village School Teacher 9 (March 1930). 2 The Xiaozhuang Drama Club was organized by the teachers and students from Xiaozhuang Normal College. It was founded in early 1929, and Tao Xingzhi was the chairman. It was one of the oldest drama clubs in China and as famous as the Southern China Drama Club and the Fudan Drama Club.

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The working life is education of working, and the lazy life is developing laziness. The scientific life is education of science, and the unscientific life is unscientific education. The artistic life is education of being artistic, and the inartistic life is education of being inartistic. The life that can change the society is education that can change society; and the life that does not change society is education that does not change society. Recently, we have a proposal that each office and every person should have a plan for the year 1930. So that the life we lead would be a planned life for that year, which would also be a planned education. So, I added this to my theory: The planned life is education of being planned, and the unorganized life is education of being planless. The education I’m going to talk about today is the local education; it is the education of life; it is what the life needs, and it is no pseudo-education. We will teach what life demands. Life needs bread. So we lead a life with bread, and get the education of bread. Life needs love. So we lead a life with love, and get the education of love, and so forth and so on. The certain kind of life makes the education of that kind. What relates to “life is education” is the concept of “the society is a school.” “The school is a society” comes from “education of life.” And now I change it into “the society is a school.” All activities of the society form the breadth of the education. We don’t need to discuss the relationship between the society and the school, as they are integrated. So we won’t say socialization of the school. Say, only those unrevolutionary persons need to be revolutionized. If one is revolutionary already, he does not need to be revolutionized. In the similar way, the school does not need to be socialized, because our school is the society. I have another analogy: if we say “the school is a society,” it is like we catch a flying bird from the sky and lock it in a cage. If we expect a small school to absorb and reflect all elements in the society, it will be too hard to realize. However, “the society is a school” is different. It is setting the caged bird free. Everything in the school will be expanded into the nature. We should realize “the society is a school,” and then we can talk about “the school is a society.” We should realize “the life is education,” and then we can discuss “the education of life.” Such a school will be a real school. And such an education will be the education we need. Why would Mr. Dewey advocate the “life of education” in the United States? I read his book recently. He changed his idea of “life of education”

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after returning from Russia. The United States is a capitalist country. The patchy experiments in education that were performed there meant many educators were not able to achieve their goals. However some educators achieved their goals in Russia. If Mr. Dewey was in Xiaozhuang, I think he would also advocate “life is education.” Mr. Dewey has never been to Xiaozhuang. But Mr. Kilpatrick has. Mr. Kilpatrick left Moscow and came to China. He said, “A man called Shatsky3 founded a school in a place near Moscow. Many of his ideas are quite similar to the ideas in Xiaozhuang.” Mr. Dewey said in his book that the education in Russia now was influenced by that place a lot. It drew lots of attention. It also advocated “life is education” and “the society is a school.” Mr. Kilpatrick asked me if we had written to each other. I said no. And I asked him, “Is Shatsky a communist?” He said no. I then asked, “He is not communist. Then how could he found a school in a country led by the communist government?” He answered, “Because he wants to realize an ideal education. He wishes to use the power of education to solve the problems of people’s lives. Therefore, the Russian government has permitted his experiments. So his education endeavor can survive in Russia.” “That’s quite similar to my situation,” I said, “I’m working on the education under the Nationalist Government, but I’m not a member of the Nationalist Party.” That was the conversation between Mr. Kilpatrick and me, after he visited Xiaozhuang. It’s the time now to implement our theory. The question is how? This could be divided into three stages. In the first stage, the life is life, and the education is education. The two are separated without connections. In the second stage, the education is life. The two have some connections. And we can start to talk about socialization of the school. In the third stage, the life is education, and the society is a school. We can say it’s turning back the clock to the oldest time, when society was the school, because the school was not separated from society. In this stage, education will reach its highest level. 3 Shatsky, an educator in Russian. He took charge of the first experimental institution of the national education in Russia, between the 1920s and 1930s. This experimental institution consisted of the educational research institution, the preschool, the school, the children’s after-school program, and the adult education. This institution studied and actually tested many problems of organizing the communism education. It paid much attention to many issues, such as how to combine the school and working, how to rationalize the teaching activities, the formation of the collective teams, and the connections of the surrounding environment. He wrote The Theory of Life’s Education, Shatsky’s Collected Works of Education, and so on.

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Next, if we talk about the ideas that “life is education” and “society is a school,” we can expect a fight in several aspects. It’s going to be unpleasant, annoying, and it will cause many conflicts. First, many currents of thought try to implement ideas in this period of time  in China. Many traditional thoughts, dominated by thousands of years of Chinese traditional education, are eager to maintain its own position in the period. Second, foreign countries dump their cultures and values into China, such as the culture-centered education from Germany, gentry’s education from England and the consumerism education from the United States. Third, when the overseas students come back to China, they become the salesmen of foreign cultures. Here it should be mentioned that the old Chinese culture, passed down for generations, conflicts with our “life is education” theory. It has been restrictive because it considers the heavenly principles to be the highest priority in everything. But the heavenly principles could oppress the people’s desires. Old Chinese culture has separated the heavenly principles and the people’s desires. It considers the people’s desires to be wrong and of low status. But we believe that the people’s desires have their own value under the principle of “life is education” and so should not be oppressed by the heavenly principles. We should cite Mr. Dai Dongyuan’s4 philosophy here. He argued that the principles should not exist without desire. The principles should not be hung high up in the sky, and the desires are not evil. They just need to be in order. Our theory of “life is education” proposes using the power of education to meet the needs and desires of people. The heavenly principles and the people’s desires ought to become integrated and be combined with Mr. Dai Dongyuan’s philosophy. “Confucianism” (the Ritual Religion) is also related to this. Nowadays, many people have a view that the Confucianism “eats” people. Indeed, Confucianism has “eaten” a lot of people. Their bones could be piled up to create another Mount Tai, and their blood could form a Poyang Lake. Yet, what is the ritual? In the old days, people claimed that the ritual was good for life. This is similar to our theory “life is education.” We won’t fight against this kind of ritual, instead we shall welcome it. If the ritual harms our life and restricts people, then it goes against us. We have to beat it. That’s because “life is education” aims at liberating people. Once again, there has long been a very bad tradition in China that consisted of looking down on children. The children were treated as small adults. People thought children were capable of doing what the adults could do. The small kids, at the age of five or six, were required to study Great Learning and 4 Dai Dongyuan (戴东原) (1723–77), also known as Dai Zhen (戴震), was a thinker and an educator in the Qing Dynasty.

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­ octrine of the Mean. But, children have no social status. In our opinion, a D child’s life is that child’s education. We should liberate the children from the cruelty of adult lives. And one more thing to add in the scenario is textbook education. In the past, the textbook education was a textbook-oriented education. The students were only required to read the textbooks, and the teachers only taught what was in the textbooks. Under the principle of “life is education,” the books have their own status. We shall pick books according to the needs in our lives. The books are only tools. We shall not read books mechanically, we have to use the knowledge we have learnt. In this way, we have to overturn the bad traditions, otherwise, the “life is education” won’t come true. Nowadays, many of the foreign thoughts from abroad may conflict with our own culture. Let’s take the culture-oriented education as an example. The culture-oriented education will result in the style of the foreign “eight-legged” essay.5 The culture has been created by human beings. Although it is valuable, it only serves as a tool and cannot be the core of our education. Why do people use culture? We use it to satisfy our desires and meet our needs. The electric light is part of our culture. We use it to have a better view. Radio devices are included in our culture to bring us convenience. The astronomical telescope helps us to observe Saturn and Jupiter. Therefore, culture can be a useful and valuable tool in our lives. We are not against it. We welcome it. Why? Because we can use it to meet our life’s needs. Some people have made a mistake. They have considered culture to be a gift and sent it to others. This is wrong. The fundamental element of culture is engagement. Only with a basic level of engagement can people understand it and contribute to it. That is the difference between “life is education” and culture-oriented education. What is the relationship between discipline education6 and our theory of “life is education”? Discipline education separates disciplining from educating, but how does it relate to “life is education”? How do we realize “life is education” and “society is a school”? How shall we implement them in elementary schools? If you think it is practicable, every one of you should send me a proposal. If any part can be realized, we will make it happen in your place where we could consider it a part of society. 5 Translators’ Note: The eight-legged essay is the required style of essay writing that has to been mastered to pass civil service examination during Ming and Qing dynasties based on Confucian thought. It was named so because it was divided into eight sections. 6 “Discipline education” generally refers to the training and control of the students’ behaviors and habits. Since the end of the Qing Dynasty when the schools were founded, traditional education implemented discipline education. It strengthened the influence of the ruling class’s ideology over the students and controlled the students’ mental behaviors strictly.

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Let me give an example. It was very dry last year. The Heping School was running out of drinking water, so people from the school dug a well. The well belonged to the school, but it was open to public use for the whole village. Two big problems appeared soon. The first one: the well-produced four hundred buckets of water every day, which were not enough for the whole village to use. As a result, people got up very early to fetch water. Those who came later would not get any water. The next day, people would come and fetch water even earlier. Some even fetched water throughout the night, causing the well to dry up by the next morning. Then people gathered around the well, waiti ng for water. They had to scoop up water ladle by ladle, struggling to fill one bucket. The second one: because people gathered around the well and strived to be the first to get water, sometimes, it ended up in fights. Under the assumption of “the school is a society,” we could use the authority of the school to solve these problems. The school could put forward an order and ask people to follow it. However, if the assumption is “society is a school,” the way to solve the problems will be very different. As the issues mattered to everyone in the village, all people should be involved in the discussion of the solution. The meeting of villagers was held, and more than sixty people attended to solve the water crisis. Among all these people, there were elderly women and children around twelve years old. An elementary school student, in his teens, was elected as the president of the meeting. Many normal school students and I formed a consulting team, scattered among the crowd, to protect the leader who was inept. An old woman talked a lot, and meanwhile, many other people talked to each other. No one could hear the words clearly, and the young leader could not handle the situation. Then the consultants started playing their important roles. They guided the people and reached some resolutions together with them at last. 1. 2. 3. 4.

The well shall rest ten hours every day, from seven in the morning to five in the afternoon. No one should fetch water during this period. Violators would be fined one silver Yuan, for maintenance of the well. Fetching water rule is a first come, first served situation. The violators would be fined sixty foreign cents, for maintenance of the well. Mr. Liu Shihou was elected as the inspector who was in charge of the execution of the punishment. Mr. Lei7 was elected as the chairman of the well-building committee, who shall raise money to build a new well. The teahouses and the tofu shops

7 Mr. Lei was Lei Wanmin (雷万民), a prestigious gentry in Xiaozhuang Village, Nanjing.

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shall donate more funds. Try to persuade the rich families to donate more too. The new well shall be built within the shortest period possible, with the summoned efforts of all villagers. These proposals were passed by the meeting of the villagers. This is the “society is the school” way. After witnessing this event, my thoughts are as follows. 1. 2. 3. 4.

5. 6.

The people’s movement should focus on the issues that are relevant to the people’s lives. Otherwise you won’t be able to gather people together. The social movement cannot be implemented thoroughly, unless “society is a school” is realized, which is likely. Old women and children can also be educated, if you do it the right way and start with their urgent problems. The public is more powerful than the school. If the school had put forth the order to solve the problem, fewer people in the society would understand the issue. And the school and society would be separated emotionally. The public need guidance in order to solve the problem. If there were no guidance, the drinking water problem of Heping School could not have been solved, even after fifty years. When we start a people’s movement, we should do everything with the public together, but not do things on behalf of the public. This is the only way to educate the Chinese citizens.

I used the elementary school and its local issue as an example. There are many other examples. I don’t need to mention all of them here. How to implement “society is a school”? Everyone please make a proposal, and we will discuss them in the next meeting. This has proved “life is education” and “society is a school” are associated. They are from the same scientific theory. I would like to add to the theory of “life is education” again. We are modern people. We want to lead modern lives and receive a modern education. We won’t lead the old life or the future life. The old way of living makes us fall behind the others. While the future life make us isolated from people. There was a book called Schools of Tomorrow, which we thought was modern, and we discussed it a lot. I hope the village school teachers will run the schools of today, not of tomorrow. The schools of today enable the students to lead the present life and get the present education.

chapter 4

Features of Life Education1 If you have watched the Beijing opera Replacing the Prince with a Cat, you would definitely remember one interesting episode in the opera: there are two Bao Zheng, one is real, and the other is a fake. If we think more thoroughly, we will find it more interesting. It seems that there are two Bao Zheng in all walks of life in the world. We take education as an example. You can see two different kinds of education. One is traditional education, and the other is life education. There are again two theories of life education. One advocates “life is education,” and the other advocates “education of life.” Now I want to point out the features of the life education in order that people will know the differences between the traditional education and the life education, and distinguish the false life education from the real one. First, Living. The first feature of the life education is living. The traditional schools charge tuition fees. You must have spare time to attend schools. You can only be enrolled if you are recommended by people with fame or wealth. So only people have money, spare time, and “face” can attend school. What about people who do not have these? Should they abide by their fate? Or wait for the golden time falling from the heaven? No! We shall drill the truth out of the struggles of life. The deeper we drill, the more we will realize that the changes in life are the changes of education. All conflicts in life could be educational. Both parties in the conflict can experience change and hence become educated. The opposite features of “life” and “education” represent the conflicts between “life” and “education.” In my opinion, education is only the reflection of life. It won’t be able to cause friction alone. For example, if a stone is rolling down from a mountain. There will be sparks when it hits another stone. But there will be no sparks if the stone only hits the shadow of another stone. More precisely, I should say that when a life that has received some kind of education conflicts with a life that has never received that kind of education, there will be sparks of life. These are also sparks of education. This results in changes in life, which are also changes in education. Second, the Action. The conflicts between lives imply the leading role of actions. If actions don’t take the leading role in our life, the traditional educators defend themselves 1 This article was originally published in Life Education 3 (2) March 16, 1936.

© koninklijke brill nv, leiden, ���6 | doi 10.1163/9789004302853_005

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by saying that “the life of reading is the education of reading.” In the actionoriented life, only “reading for the action, and reading during the practice” makes sense. We shall still trace the source and further question, “Where are the books from? Where is the true knowledge in the books from?” We can answer without any hesitation, “Practicing is the start of knowing. We gain knowledge through practicing.” The writers write the books and explain the knowledge in the books through their own practicing. I have to make it clear that people who write the books are different from people who comment on the books or copy the books. Actions produce the knowledge of human beings and individuals. We derive and develop theories based on our practices. Then we use those theories to guide our actions so that we can arrive at a higher level. In order to live a satisfactory life, our actions should be supported by theories, organized, and well planned, like military operations. Third, being Popular. The children from rich families don’t need to worry about money and can attend schools to receive their education. That is the education for the elite. But the public can also find the chance to be educated in everyday life. They are educated for living. Before the liberation, struggles in life were the only education for the masses. It is impossible to get life education in isolation. People can’t make a living unless we unite. Only if we unite, can we receive education. So in authentic life education, all people are teachers, classmates, and students. Teaching and learning are integrated. We teach others as soon as we gain new knowledge. This is the way of public life and mass education. In one word, life education is mass education, which has been developed by the masses for the liberation of lives. Fourth, being Forward. Some people argue that life has existed since ancient times. If life is education, then we have had education all the time. So why should we make efforts to develop education? The analysis is correct, but the conclusion is wrong. We acknowledge that we have had life as well as education since ancient times. However, even in the same society, some people live a forward life, while some others live a backward life. We should guide the backward living style with the forward living style, so that we will all live the forward life and share the advancing education. We can only teach people the forward concept through life. Fifth, being International. The traditional classrooms won’t allow the everyday life in. They do not have the capacity to educate the masses. They do not tolerate any change. They only make people move backward and disapprove any forward moves. Facing all these drawbacks of classroom teaching, we have to admit that society is our only school. All places that are relevant to our life, such as the streets, alleys,

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villages, factories, shops, prisons, battlefields, and so on are the places where we could teach ourselves. In that way, we lose a bird cage but gain a great forest. In order to live a meaningful life, the power of our life will break the fences of the schools, the villages, the cities, the country, and whatever barriers have been built by the selfish people. So the whole country and the whole world are our schools. This would be our ideal school. Sixth, being Relevant to the History. We should discuss this point in two ways. Primarily, after thousands of years of life struggle, precious historical lessons have been passed on to us. However, we must use a critical mind in order to learn from this history. We should be aware that we cannot read history for the sake of reading history. We should relate the historic lessons to the life of individuals or groups. The historic lessons can only guide us if they have been filtered by our current life. Only these kind of historic lessons would enrich our life tremendously. If someone only focuses on his own life or the life of a few of his friends and refuses to accept the historic lessons of human kind, he is lazy and cannot make any progress, like a small loach lying in the mire of the narrow empiricism willingly. Secondly, it is the crucial moment for China now. Life education that strives for the people’s liberation has its own historical mission. In order to strive for the people’s liberation, it has to strive for the liberation of the Chinese nation. In order to strive for the liberation of the Chinese nation, it has to teach people to unite and solve the national calamities. So it is the unshakable duty of every educator to promote mass education in order to defend the integrity of our territorial sovereignty and strive for the freedom and equality for the Chinese nation.

chapter 5

About Student Self-governance1 Self-motivatism,2 which has been advocated recently, consists of three components: (1) intellectual education, which emphasizes self-study; (2) physical education, which emphasizes self-strengthening; (3) moral education, which emphasizes self-governance. So student self-governance is the result of the implementation of self-motivatism. It is also the reaction of thousands of years of protectionism, interventionism, and rigorism. This matter is very important in the education field today. It covers a wide range of issues. We would ask if the students should get the chance of self-governance. If the answer is yes, we would ask how wide the self-governance’s scope should be. What kinds of affairs should be self-governed by the students? What’s the standard for deciding the self-governance’s scope? What strategy should we use to implement student self-governance? We should study the above questions. And in general, all these are about student self-governance. What do we mean by student self-governance? Before we discuss a question, we should first understand its nature and meaning. Otherwise, there will be misunderstanding. There are three key points to student self-governance as discussed in this article. First, the students are all students in the school. They are a group. Second, self-governance means the people govern themselves, including having their own legislation, law enforcement, and judicature procedures. Third, student self-governance differs a little from other kinds of self-governance. As the students are still learning, they are practicing self-governance to some degree. Combining these three points, we can define student self-governance as: “Student self-governance is to unite the students and enable them to learn to govern themselves.” From the standpoint of schools, they shall “provide all kinds of opportunities for the students to unite and develop their ability to govern themselves.” According to this definition, student self-governance does not mean to act freely, but to govern together. It does not mean to break the rules, but to make the rules by themselves and obey the rules. It is not laissez faire. It does not mean to be independent from the school, but to exercise self-governance. 1 This article was originally published in New Education 2 (2) October 1919. 2 Self-motivatism was one of the new education thoughts that was popular at the beginning of the twentieth century in China. It advocated that the students should have the abilities of self-study, self-strengthening, and self-governance.

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Why do we need student self-governance? The students today are the citizens tomorrow. We shall cultivate students to become citizens, who satisfy the needs of society in the future. The a­ utocratic countries need their citizens to get used to being governed. The republic ­countries need their citizens to have the ability of self-governing together. Since China is a republic country, it needs citizens who can govern themselves together. In order to have citizens with such capability, we should first have students who can govern themselves together. Therefore, training students to develop the ability of self-governing together is in accordance with the republic nature of our country. Otherwise, the schools are not the republic country’s schools. This is the first point. The trend of populism has developed fiercely, recently. All people influenced by it want to get rid of all the constraints. This has some benefits as well as some dangers. What are the benefits? Everyone can give full play to the individual spirit. People’s evolution will be promoted. Where are the dangers? People who get rid of the constraints, might not be able to harness their desires and conduct. If there are moral issues, it could be very harmful to the society. In a country, if people are willing to be governed, the nation could experience momentary ease. If people are able to govern themselves, the nation will experience true peace. If people refuse to be governed, and meanwhile they have the ability to govern themselves, the nation will be in danger. So when people desire freedom, what they need most is to be offered various kinds of opportunities to acquire the ability to self-govern. Then their desire for freedom can be monitored by themselves. This is the trend of the times. The schools’ promotion of self-governance is the only way to eradicate the source of chaos. This is the second point. We need both citizens and students who can govern themselves, but we must know how to cultivate them. According to the rules of learning, we learn things by the way we do them. For example, people swim in water. To learn swimming, we need to learn in water. If we only read books on swimming, and learn the swimming movements on land without practicing in water, we will sink when we get into water, no matter how much time we spent learning about it. So if autocratic countries want obedient citizens, they must frequently make their people practice how to obey. Over time, the habit b­ ecomes second nature. People will only know to obey if they do so without having to think about it. If republic countries need self-governing people, they also must frequently make their people practice how to govern themselves. Again, over time, the habit becomes second nature. People will be able to govern themselves. Therefore, the authoritarian way will produce obedient people. But for republic people, we should use the self-governing way. If the ­authoritarian way

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could have cultivated student citizens with self-governance, we could take our time on the issue of student self-governance. However, ­student citizens with self-governance can only be cultivated through self-­governance. Taking this into consideration, student self-governance seems to be even more necessary. This is the third point. Proper handling of student self-governance could have the following benefits: Firstly, student self-governance can be the experiment of cultivating morality. Nowadays, learning and practicing are paid equal attention. Learning knowledge is important, and so is practicing the knowledge. So in school curriculum, the physics, the chemistry and the natural science all have labs for experiments. Other courses also involve practice, such as writing, drawing, gymnastics, and so on. They provide chances to practice in addition to gathering knowledge. The purpose of practicing is to connect the ideal and reality through experimenting, so that learning can be deepened. Areas like moral education should pay special attention to conduct. But the fact is that in most of our schools, moral education courses seldom provide any chance to practice. Even though some schools have such components, they just practice the rites. As a result, the students talk about morality and hear about morality, but their behavior is not up to moral standards. Morality and conduct are separated unconsciously. The problem cannot be solved unless we provide the students with the chance to practice morality. The practice that the republic citizens need most is in selfgoverning. They shall develop several major habits regarding self-governing. The first is to develop voluntary interest in public happiness. The second is to develop the capability to take responsibility for public services. The third is to acquire clear judgment over public disputes. In short, self-governing could cultivate willingness, intelligence, and abilities in dealing with public affairs. So if the learning of self-governance is implemented properly, the schools will become the labs that cultivate morality. Morality that is practiced is the true one. Secondly, student self-governance can meet the students’ needs. Our regulations and actions, as we run the schools, might not be suitable for the students. Sometimes, the more we have done for the students, the more we harm them. When we are doing something for others, no matter how careful and thoughtful we are, we cannot do it as well as people do it for themselves. We and the students have different experiences and environments, so what satisfies us might not satisfy the students. When we are making regulations, we may miss things that the students need, while including those that are not suitable for them. After the regulations are issued, students fail to obey them, but the teachers have to enforce them. Then the situation becomes awkward. So

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much so that the students violate the rules and the regulations lose the effect, while the teachers become untrustworthy. If we step back a little and let the students govern some affairs that are closely related to themselves, the regulations they make under such conditions may be much more reasonable and fit their reality. That is to say, sometimes the regulations made by the students themselves are more rational and easier to carry out than those made by the school. And such regulations are more powerful because they get more support from people. People in authoritarian countries don’t know what the law is until they break it. In that way, the law’s power is very limited because people only realize it after they violate it. If people are involved in making laws, they will be aware of them all the time. Their everyday behavior will be regulated by the law made by themselves. Therefore, the law made by people themselves is more powerful than that made by others. The law made by people together is more powerful than that made by someone dictatorially. Thirdly, student self-governance can help to improve the discipline. Whom should our behavior be responsible for? For the faculty who is the minority, or for the whole school? According to the old way, when students made mistakes, a few supervision staff were asked to correct the students’ behavior. This method had two defects. One is that the students only behaved well when the few supervision staff were present. When not under supervision, they acted disorderly. The other is that other students thought, since the staff were responsible for supervising, why should we bother trying to? Even when the students witnessed some bad behavior, they kept neutral about it. This is the attitude held by most students. As a result, one person administrates the justice while the others try to avoid the law. If we want everyone to obey the regulations, we have to make each of us be responsible for his or her behavior for the betterment of all of us. In other words, we need self-governance. Fourthly, student self-governance is a way to accumulate their experiences. When we raise children, if we give them too many restrictions, the children will be haggard. If we let them run, jump, and play, they will be lively. The body develops in this way, and so does the moral experience. Our moral development depends on the opportunities we have to solve the problems we meet. In facing a problem, if we figure out a way to solve it, we obtain new experience in judging and making decisions. The more problems we solve, the more experience we will accumulate. If other people solve the problem for me instead, even though my difficulties have gone temporarily, I won’t be able to get any experience. As a result, the protectionism can only produce students who lack experience. If we want to have rich experiences, we have to be responsible for solving problems. If student self-governance is not implemented properly, it might be abused. Bad outcomes can include the following:

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Firstly, student self-governance could be used as a tool for competing for power. Most groups have certain special powers that are much more powerful than those of individuals. If such powers are used in the right ways, they can serve the public. Otherwise, they will drive people to compete for power and profit. Student self-governance is also enacted through an organized group. So it has such potential risk, if it’s not handled properly. Secondly, student self-governance is incorrectly considered as governing others. This risk follows the first one. Sometimes it is a natural trend. Without enough caution, it is easy for a group to use the trend to drive others. Mr. Liu Boming once said, “People cannot just fight for being better than the public, they should be with the public.” It is a guide for our republican nation. Thirdly, student self-governance and the school are pitted against each other. Student self-governance organization and the school should collaborate with each other, instead of being against each other. However, it is not easy to avoid this confrontation situation if the self-governance is not implemented properly. It’s an unfortunate situation which should not exist between teachers and students. Fourthly, the impulse. Once the students get the chance to govern themselves, they will try to make many statements, claims, and negotiations. It is easy for someto feel resentful because something is not to their liking. Then, they will act on impulse and form cliques. The politicians’ tricks will be brought into schools. The above are a few main shortcomings. There are still many small disadvantages. Generally speaking, if student self-governance is not handled well, all risks that can be found in a republic country can also be found in schools. We should be aware that all these are not defects of student selfgovernance system. They are caused by the poor implementation of student self-governance. When self-governance is exercised, if everybody doesn’t fight for power, but serves the others; if we try to govern ourselves well, not try to drive others; if we assist each other, not be against with each other; if we don’t act on impulse, but reason things out, we will enjoy the benefits of the self-governance and avoid the problems. All people in republic countries should practice to do things in this way in this critical period of time. When we are at school, we can discuss with classmates and get advice from ­teachers. Even when we made some small mistakes accidentally, it’s easy for us to correct them. If we don’t get enough practice at school, and without the support from classmates and teachers in society, we could go farther and farther in the wrong direction, once we made a mistake. This could harm

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ourselves, even our country. All this would be because we haven’t practiced self-governing when we were students. So student self-governance can benefit us now. The small mistakes we may make as students will prevent huge failures in the future. 1

The Standard of Deciding the Scope of Student Self-governance

We have talked about the advantages and disadvantages of student selfgovernance. The next question should ask what the scope of student self-governance should be, and what the standard for deciding this scope should be. First, the scope of student self-governance should be limited to the affairs that the students ought to take charge of. All affairs that the students are willing to and capable of taking responsibility for could be included in the scope of self-governance. However, affairs that the students should not be responsible for should not be included in the scope. Self-governance and responsibility are closely related to each other. If others give the orders while I take the responsibility, I’m governed by the others. Likewise, I’m governing others if I make orders and others take the responsibility. Either situation doesn’t serve the purpose of self-governance. Therefore, student self-governance should be limited to the affairs that the students ought to take charge of. Second, the more carefully observations of affairs are made, the more suitable they will be for students to take charge of together and implement self-governance. Third, the easier the affairs are to involve more people, the more suitable they will be for students to take charge of together and exercise self-governance. Fourth, when we make the scope of student self-governance according to the three previous standards, we should also take into consideration the age, level, and the experience of the students. 2

The Relationship between the Student’s Self-governance and the School

The student’s self-governance committee is one of the school’s organizations, so it has a close relationship with the school. We can categorize the relationship into two types. The first concerns authority, and the other concerns learning. First, the relationship concerning authority: When the student’s selfgovernance committee is officially established, the affairs in school can be

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divided into two kinds. One is still managed by the school. The other will be handled by the students instead. In most situations, the authority of each is clear. However, in an institution there will always be some affairs that cannot be assigned to a single party. To deal with situations like this, we will need a coordination department, which can help with the expression of opinions and communication between the parties, in order to reach a satisfactory solution. In addition to that, there are events that happen contingently and concern all members of the school. Both the school administrators and the students should get involved. In such situations, the coordination department will be even more necessary. In schools of smaller scale, the school principal can directly serve this function. In larger schools, the principle can assign some of the faculty to do the job. Both the student’s self-governance committee and the school administrators can communicate with this department whenever it is necessary. With this coordination department, the school and the students can effectively communicate with each other and understand each other well. Second, the relationship about learning: Few things can be done easily without much learning. Self-governance is the foundation of a republic country. We cannot develop it well unless we study it hard. When we carry out student self-governance, we should also consider it as a study. So there are two things we should pay attention to. The first is that the students learn from each other. The second is how they receive guidance from the faculty. Some worry that the faculties in China haven’t studied any student self-governance before. So they might not be qualified to guide the students. This is valid. However, we need to pay attention to the following points. First, the learning of all subjects in school is guided by the faculty. If student self-governance, being an important foundational course of the country, is the only subject without any guidance from the faculty, this only suggests negligence. Second, if the school doesn’t have faculty with such ability, it should look for teachers who have republican thoughts and the self-governing spirit to take the job immediately. Third, we cannot assume teachers have higher status than the students. And there is no definite boundary between teaching and learning. People only know that the teachers teach and the students learn. But in fact, sometimes teachers can also learn a lot from the students. Therefore, if by any chance the school cannot find any qualified teachers, it shall let the teachers and the students study the issue together. In one word, we need to implement student self-governance, and more importantly, we shall study it as well. The school shall engage in the study and is responsible for guiding the study. Since these two close relationships exist between student self-governance and the school, we have to clear all obstacles and joint the powers of the ­teachers and the students so that they can supplement each other. We must

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communicate with each other for every action we take. We discuss, contribute, and involve. In such republic schools, no one should adopt an attitude of arbitrariness, force, command, or acting alone. When we request someone to do something, we will not only tell him what to do and how to do it, but also make him understand “why you should do this and why you need to do this in this way.” When we both understand how and why, we will unite and work as one to achieve our common aim. 3

The Key Points that We Should Pay Attention to When We Carry Out Student Self-governance

Currently, all schools carry out student self-governance successively. I have observed the implementations closely and found that there are some key points we should pay attention to in advance, in order to gain a good result. First, student self-governance is a big event for the school. All students shall consider it to be important and work on it seriously. The school shall also consider it to be important and play a serious supporting role. If it is treated as a trivial matter without enough attention paid to it, it is doomed to fail. Second, student self-governance is much like local self-governance. The authority of the autonomous region is authorized by the central government. Similarly, the students are authorized by the school in terms of self-governance. So, even though student self-governance could be launched by students, the school should have relevant procedures to approve it. Third, how effective student self-governance could be will depend on ­whether the school understands it well and gets interested in this issue. If ­everyone understands its meaning and recognizes its necessity, it will d­ efinitely be supported by everyone when it is carried out. Therefore, we have to create a favorable public opinion through speeches, debates, talks, and articles before we carry out student self-governance. Fourth, the law is made for people, so it should be clear and simple. Otherwise, it will cause troubles. Fifth, we can estimate the likelihood of success of student self-governance in one school by observing its leader. So we should make the best leaders serve to increase the value of student self-governance. Neither good leaders not willing to serve, nor people who don’t want to elect the good leaders would be good for self-governance. Sixth, the school and the students should always assist each other and make contributions.

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Seventh, the school and the students should adopt an experimental strategy in implementing self-governance. The refutations don’t need to be detailed nor should the organization be rigorous. We can always make improvements during the trial implementation. Although it’s hard to avoid setbacks, we will be successful in the end. 4

The Conclusion

All in all, student self-governance is an important thing to do in schools in a republic country. We should treat it as a big event, study it seriously, and appreciate it like a piece of art, if we want to get a satisfactory result. We will get success only if we treat it as a big event. We will make improvements only if we study it seriously. But it’s still not enough, as self-governance is the art of life. All art has a charm that is appreciated by people. That which is not appreciated by people is not true art, nor true student self-governance. Therefore, when we carry out student self-governance, we have to implement it in a way that all participants or spectators consider it valuable. They cannot help appreciating and admiring it. Only in this way is it noble art of life, true student self-governance.

chapter 6

Cultivating Creativity in Children1 Creative child education does not mean that education creates creativity in children. Children’s creativity is an inherited natural skill that was selected by nature through at least five million years of competition between our ancestors and the environment. Nature chose whether this skill was to be enacted or hindered, strengthened or weakened, nurtured or damaged. Education nurtures what the child is born with. It manipulates and utilizes the environment that children live in to strengthen and enable this creativity, making it more powerful, contributing to the ethnicity of human kind. Education does not create things, but it can enlighten and liberate children’s creativity so that the child can use it to create. We know that children, especially Chinese children, grow up with difficulties. We should transform their world of painful difficulties into a world of happiness. This world of happiness should not be created by adults and given to children. Nor should it be created by children alone. If we adults make a world of happiness and give it to children, it won’t be long before it turns into a world of pain. If children create it themselves, they might just create a world of pain. Thus, adults should join the children and accompany them in creating it. First of all, let us put ourselves into the children’s world and become one of them. To put ourselves into their world and become one of them is not to do it inattentively, not to fake it, but to do it sincerely, to be on the same page with children in terms of feelings and emotions. I wrote a little poem, which depicts the attitude that we should and should not have toward the world of children: There are no old men in a preschool, Every old man turns into a child, Turns into a child, Do not be like the Monkey-king! When he was at Shi Tuo Cave, He used to transform into a little demon, A little demon, His face is the same with the little demon, Only with a monkey tail and red butt. 1 This article was originally published in Ta Kung Pao, December 16, 1944.

© koninklijke brill nv, leiden, ���6 | doi 10.1163/9789004302853_007

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To join the world of children, the first thing to do is to not lose a child-like heart, but to truly be one of them. Second, we must recognize that children have power. Once we join the children’s world, we will recognize that children have power. They not only have power but also creativity. We will only have this flash of insight and new discovery if we become a part of the children’s world. When Xiaozhuang Normal School closed its gates, its faculty and students could not go back to work at Xiaozhuang Primary School. Children rejected old-style private school tutors. Hiring new teachers was too far of a financial stretch for peasants. There were no other ways to get teachers. Under such circumstances, children organized themselves and elected classmates to become faculty members. They taught themselves, learnt themselves, and managed the school by themselves, and called it a “self-automated school.” This is a groundbreaking invention in China. After I heard this news, I wrote a poem to congratulate them: There is a school, how strange; Big children take initiative to teach the little; Teachers could be from all careers; Learning still happens even when teachers are absent. After finishing writing this poem, I handed it to a few college students and asked for their advice. They said that it was perfect, thus I sent it out immediately. On the third day, they sent a letter back. Other than saying thank you, they said that one word should be changed in this poem. “Big children take initiative to teach the little.” Why can’t little children teach their peers? Can’t little children take initiatives, too? Moreover, what is so special about big children teaching little children? This list of incisive questions blew the word “big” into pieces. I changed the line immediately: “Little children take initiative to teach big children.” This makes it better. The fact that farmers’ children, whose legs are covered by mud, can advise a foreign-educated college student is more groundbreaking evidence that children have creativity. Another time, I went to Nantong to promote “The Little Teacher” program. I wrote a one-minute speech. A piece of it was as follows, “Learning but no teaching? What kind of person is that? Not a person.” After the speech, a child came to me immediately and said, Mr. Tao, it is better to change “not a person” to “a wood person” in your speech. “A wood person” is better than “not a person,” because it is more

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specific. A table is not a person. A chair is not a person either. But “a wood person” gives us a more specific image. This is also evidence that children are creative. We need to recognize that children are creative in order to not be deceived by stereotypes. All children are creative, more or less. Third, liberate children’s creativity. We find that children are creative and recognize their own creativity. So we must take the next step to make them free to use it. 1

Liberate Children’s Minds

Children’s creativity is stifled by existing superstition, stereotype, distorted interpretations, and illusions, just like being wrapped by layers after layers of head wrapping clothes. To liberate children’s creativity, we need to first liberate them from these restrictions. Superstition, stereotype, distorted interpretations, and illusions must be discarded. They are against reality. These things are like head-wrapping clothes, which we must tear down piece by piece, just like how Chinese women bravely took off their foot-wrapping clothes. Ever since there were foot-wrapping clothes, Chinese women were wrapped day after day, year after year. Their bones were crushed. Their flesh was torn. Their feet were made into a “three-inch golden lotus flower.” Ever since there were head-wrapping clothes, Chinese children, young people, and adults were wrapped day after day, year after year. It is as if their heads were made into a “three-inch golden head.” If the Chinese ethnicity does not want to appear as “three-inch golden heads” on the global stage and sing “three flower face,” then we must unwrap the head-wrapping clothes all together, so that the creativity of the Chinese can fight its way out. The first chapter of the Three People’s Principle said, whenever people study the reasoning of an event, first they come up with ideas. Only after ideas are thought through and fully understood would they have beliefs. Only after having beliefs can people generate strength. Thinking through and fully grasping ideas requires liberating one’s mind. Only the liberated creativity from one’s mind can beat the Japanese invaders and build a new China. 2

Liberate Children’s Hands

Ever since human beings stood straight and their forefeet transformed into free hands, they were able to develop at unprecedented speed, surpassing

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any other creatures. This epoch-making evolution enabled human beings to create tools, weapons, and letters, which were later used for more advanced inventions. If the hands of human beings were emancipated, they would no longer be able to execute orders from the brain. Yet we need to use our hands to operate machines for production, to use weapons in wars, and to invent with apparatus. In China, we never allow children to touch things. Children get punished if they touch things. A lot of times, this destroys their creativity. A child of my friend took a newly bought watch of his mother apart and broke it. His mother was so furious that she spanked him thoroughly. Later when she visited me, she told me that she spanked her child because he broke her watch into pieces. She felt much better after the spank. I told her that she might have killed a future Edison of China. After we talked through this issue, she understood that her child’s behavior actually showed his talents and future possibilities. She asked us how to make up for her mistake. I told her: You can bring your child and the watch to a watchmaker’s shop and ask the watchmaker to fix the watch. Pay whatever he charges as long as he allows your child to watch while he is fixing the watch. In this way, the watchmaker’s shop turns into a classroom, where the watchmaker is the teacher and your child is a fast-learning student. The money you pay is tuition. Your child’s curiosity will be satisfied, and he even might learn how to fix a watch. This is how we liberate children’s hands. China lags behind in this aspect badly. Not until recently have we started discussion on liberating children’s hand. During Edison’s time, teachers in American schools were very stubborn. Edison had been able to stay in school for less than three months before he was expelled because he liked playing with chemicals. He was lucky to have a wise mother, who understood him and let him do experiments in the basement of their house. His mother’s understanding enabled him to develop himself into the king of invention. At that time, primary school teachers in the United States also hindered the development of students’ creativity. We hope that childcare workers and teachers can learn from Edison’s mother and allow children to explore with their hands. 3

Liberate Children’s Speech

We should allow children to ask questions whenever they have any, because they could gain knowledge from the answers to their questions. When

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Confucius entered the Imperial Ancestral Temple, he asked about everything. I used to write a poem on this issue: Tens of millions of inventions start from one single question. Beasts are inferior because they never know how to ask questions. Wise men ask smart questions, while a fool asks silly ones. Human wins day because they ask questions. However, according to Chinese tradition, children are not allowed to talk much. Only when young children acquire freedom of speech, especially freedom to ask questions, can they fully develop their creativity. 4

Liberate Children’s Space

In the past, a school was like a birdcage. The reformed schools nowadays are still birdcages, but only larger ones. We shall free children from the birdcages. Even though the enlarged birdcages have more spaces than ordinary birdcages, and even have a tree, an artificial hill, and monkeys to play with in them, they are still enlarged model birdcages. They can never become the home of birds; neither could they become the world of birds. Birds belong to forests and the open sea and vast sky. Current birdcage-style schools teach children with textbooks, no more vivid than dry pickles. Our children are sadly lacking in spiritual nourishment. This is even worse than cram schools, where we at least spoon-fed children with knowledge. To liberate children’s space, we shall allow them to explore flowers, grass, trees, mountains, lakes, sun, moon, and stars in nature, as well as meet with people from all walks of life, including scholars, peasants, workers, businessmen, and so on. Children shall be free to question the universe, make friends with all creatures and learn from people with different careers from home or abroad. Creations require foundations of broad knowledge. Only with free space, can children collect rich information, broaden their horizon, and develop their inherent creativity. 5

Free Children’s Time

The school schedules are often too tight for children. We could never pour water into a full cup. Middle schools nowadays have monthly exams, final exams by the end of each semester, graduation exams, certificate of education exams, entrance exams, and other forms of exams. These exams are killing students.

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Even children in primary schools are suffering from double supervision: supervised by teachers at schools and by parents at home after schools. All of this is in preparation for examinations. If children devote all efforts to preparing for exams, how much spare time would they have to learn knowledge from nature and society? This is like a person who is so hurried on his journey that he has no time to enjoy the scenery on his way or do anything meaningful. We shall not hurry on our way unless we are seeing a doctor or trying to save a life. Obviously, exams are much less important. We shall not put too much effort into taking exams, or we will lost our health, loving care from our parents, responsibility for the nation and human kind, and even our own responsibility to fight against invaders. What’s more unwanted is that exams take up our time. I’m personally opposed to excessive exams. If schooling occupies all the time of a child, the child will lose the chance to learn about life and the intention to create. When he or she grows into an adult, he or she will have no idea of how to use his or her creativity, even if he or she has time. Striving to free children’s time is a priority for cultivating creativity in children. Fourth, cultivate creativity. When we liberate children’s mind, hands, speech, space, and time, we shall appropriately cultivate their creativity. 1.

2.

3.

We shall provide children with sufficient nutrition. Both physical and mental development in children requires appropriate nutrition. With proper nutrition, children can develop their creativity, otherwise, their creativity will be weakened and even lost. We shall help children develop good habits so as to free their minds for pursing a higher level of knowledge. Without good habits, children will be caught up by daily trivialities and could hardly make any major leaps. Teaching should be individualized to adapt to the needs of the students. Fertilizers for pine trees are totally different from that for peonies. If one mixed them up, peonies would die for lack of fertilizer, while pine trees would be burned. We should cultivate children’s creativity in the same way as gardeners taking care of their plants. We should first study them to understand their specialties. Based on our understanding, we should provide them with appropriate fertilizer, water, sunshine, and pesticide so that they grow healthily and thrive, instead of withering.

Finally, I’d like to bring to your attention that the premise for the best development of creativity is democracy. Although a small number of individuals could still show some creativity under undemocratic conditions, they won’t be able to reach their full potentials. Only with democratic aims and means, could we

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greatly develop people’s creativity. Democracy in education includes three ­important components: 1.

2.

3.

Educational equality, which means that education shall be open to the public and culture shall serve the public. Everyone should enjoy equal education opportunity, regardless of wealth, gender, age, ethnicity, or social status. Tolerance and understanding. Educators should be tolerant, just like Edison’s mother and Faraday’s boss. When Edison was expelled from school, his mother gave him the basement to do experiments. Faraday was the slowest worker in binding books when he worked as an apprentice to George Riebau, a local bookbinder and bookseller. Reibau didn’t blame him for that because he found that Faraday was reading the books while binding them. These early experiences allowed him to make great contributions to the fields of electromagnetism. Learning democracy in a democratic environment. An authoritarian environment can produce minions and slaves, but can never teach people to be masters of their own. A democratic environment shall not be a messy one, without any discipline. Democracy is built on conscious discipline. People can only learn to be masters of themselves in a disciplined democratic environment, where everyone can show and fully liberate his or her creativity. Only democracy can liberate creativity in the majority of the people, enabling them to give full play to their creative impulses.

chapter 7

The First Class Educator1 There are three common types of educators: (1) bureaucratic educators, who are only interested in political activities,2 dominating, and bureaucratic rhetoric; (2) nerdy educators, who only know reading, teaching, and writing academic papers; (3) empirical educators, who keep on teaching blindly. Needless to say, the first type of educators is the worst of all. However, the other two are not noble, neither. I would suggest that in order to become first-class figures, today’s educators will have to satisfy one of the following two features. 1

Dare to Explore Undeveloped New Theories

We people in the educational community are too timid and fussy about all new theories. We are like children, who are afraid to approach strangers or enter a dark room. In the end, every move and act is either praying for blessing from the ancients or following the examples from foreign countries—like a child turns to his mother for help every time he eats and gets dressed, and can barely walk without holding onto others. What a sad thing! If we people in the educational community want to be independent and make progress, we will have to be brave and implement the spirit of experimentation in investigating the unknown and developing new theories. We should be determined to discover those new education theories, one by one, wholeheartedly, not fearing hardship, fatigue, obstacles, and failures we are to suffer during the process. How courageous! Those in the educational community who possess this courage deserve to be admired and worshiped.

1 This article was published in Eastern Times Education Weekly: The New Trends in Education around the World, 9. Jiang Menglin, the chief editor of the issue, wrote in the editorial highlights: “Dear Mr. Tao, your article brightens me up. I haven’t read anything like this for a long time. It is the gospel for the field of education.” 2 “Political activities” refers to the canvassing activities of the old bureaucrats. They woo the higher authorities for better positions.

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Dare to Exploit Uncivilized Border Areas

Scholars in the past believed that “smart people do not need to step out of their rooms to know the world’s affairs well.” As time passed, “don’t need to go out” turned into “don’t dare to go out.” Students today are still following such thoughts. A look into the school’s yearbook illustrates the point that most graduates choose to remain local. Those who choose to work outside the province are rare; and those who choose to work in border regions are one in a million. Passionate educators often coagulate around areas where schools are abundant. As a result, regions like the inland and the outskirts are neglected. The root of the matter is fear. The fear of difficulty, hardship, loneliness, and death makes people lose their opportunities and waste their lives. A further question would be: who is responsible for education in those areas? We should be aware that we are responsible for any uncivilized regions or any uneducated people in our country. With a full understanding of the responsibility, we should take up the torch and shine the light of knowledge as trailblazers and educators. We should knock open the doors of the families in the broader region, one by one, with knowledge. It is the pioneers that leave a mark and are remembered in history. They deserve our admiration and worship! To invent is to explore new ideas; and to explore is to venture out into the unknown. Inventing requires insight and reflection. Exploring requires foresight and planning. Both require the courage to step out of one’s comfort zone. Educators who possess either one of these qualities are the first class educators. An honorable man will not waste his life. He will either devote himself in doing experiments in labs or in exploring the border regions. However, when will we have talents like this? What kind of school fosters these qualities? How can we nurture it in school? These are our main concerns going forward.

part 2 Reform of China’s Education

∵

chapter 8

The Improvement of China’s Education1 Our people not only need education, but need good education. Making improvement means to change the bad into the good, and make the good even better. The society is dynamic, and so is education. We should keep making changes and improvements to it. The improvement of education includes two aspects. One addresses the improvement of the education policy, and the other addresses the improvement of pedagogy. The education policy changes with trends of thought. It may change by chance just because of some individual’s personal preference, or maybe it has to change to follow the general trend of the society. Pedagogy shall be guided and constrained by the education policy. It also needs to be consistent with the education policy. If the policy is not appropriate, or the education method doesn’t accord with the policy, we can find the room for improvement. Take sailing, for example; we should first decide the correct direction. If the direction is not accurate, no matter how fast we sail, or how comfortable we are, we will go the wrong way and never get to our destination. However, if we only have an accurate direction, but we are not sure if the ship is strong enough to resist the stormy waves, if the sailors are capable and brave, or how long our food and fuel will last, it is still difficult for us to reach our destination, without a clear plan. Therefore, inaccurate policy needs improvement. If the method doesn’t accord with the policy, it also needs improvement. Sailing and education are alike in this sense. Regarding China’s education policy, it has changed several times since the new style schools2 were established. At the beginning, the government wanted to absorb the scientific knowledge, but it couldn’t bear with the idea of giving up the so-called quintessence of the Chinese culture. So they put forward an assertion “Chinese culture dominates and Western knowledge serves.”3 1 This article was written by Tao Xingzhi as an entry for Education Dictionary, edited by Zhu Jingnong (Shanghai: Commercial Press, July 1930): 1021–23. Tao was one of the contributing editors for that book. 2 China followed the examples of the American and European education systems, and founded new style schools of various kinds at different levels. 3 An education policy advocated by the Westernization Group in the late Qing Dynasty. Chinese culture here mainly referred to the classic historical theories, which maintained the principles of feudal moral conducts. Western knowledge mainly referred to the bourgeois new culture from Western countries.

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This was an education policy at that time. In the twenty-seventh year of the Guangxu period, the education objective was clearly set as to be loyal to the emperor; to respect Confucius; and to value justice, honesty, and martial virtues. These education objectives served as the education policy in that period. In the first year of the Republic of China, the state system changed. As a result, the education policy emphasized moral education, which was complemented by utilitarianism education and civilian-military education. Aesthetic education was also used to accomplish moral education. In the fourth year of the Republic of China, the education objectives were clearly declared, “laying emphasis on moral, utilitarianism and martial virtues education, and putting them in practical use.” In the eighth year of the Republic of China, the Ministry of Education organized the education research committee, which suggested that “developing healthy personalities and republic spirit should be the education policy.” The healthy personalities should include (1) personal virtues, which were the basics of being a person, and social moralities, which were the foundation of serving society and the nation; (2) necessary knowledge and skills for one’s life; and (3) healthy and lively physique; (4) graceful and happy feelings. The republic spirit should include (1) advocating the populism, so that people would know the republic was the foundation of the nation; and (2) developing the habit of citizen self-governance, so that all people would take the social responsibilities. In the eleventh year of the Republic of China, the eighth term of the Association of National Education Committee4 suggested a schooling system standard, which was an amendment to the education policy. The Ministry of Education then issued seven terms of this standard: (1) to meet the needs of social evolution, (2) to develop the spirit of mass education, (3) to seek personality development, (4) to pay attention to the national economy, (5) to pay attention to life education, (6) to make education easier to be popularized, (7) to leave more room for the local governments. During the next twenty years, the education policy in our country was modified every four or five years. The instability was ridiculed by the critics as having no education policy at all. In fact, China has been in a time of transition, and all kinds of ideological trends have come and gone. So it was not easy to stabilize the policy. Even nowadays, we still ponder which way we should go. I would estimate that China’s education policy will change again within the next few years. It might stay more stable after this modification. China’s education policy has passed 4 In 1915, the education association of all provinces and special administrative regions selected representatives to form this committee. It was an influential education group around the May 4 Movement. It played an important role in the reform of the schooling system in 1922. It has been inactive since 1926.

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several forked roads. According to my observation, there are still two important decisions to make: first, nationalism and internationalism; and second, material civilization, spiritual civilization, and life’s philosophy, which absorbs material civilization while it keeps a free spirit, without being mechanical. The reform is necessary, without a doubt, but the essential issue is how to reform so that we can make progress. As for the improvement of education methods, more aspects shall be included. The schooling system, the organization, the administration, the training for teachers, the selection and editing of teaching materials, the study of teaching methods, the school building and teaching equipment, and the financing and fundraising shall all be included. This article doesn’t have enough space for me to write down all the trajectories of improvement during recent years in detail. Nevertheless, the teaching method has made very significant progress. For example, it changes from the subjective to the objective gradually. It also changes from the sequacious to the critical. The majority instead of the minority gets involved. The thoughtful has replaced the impetuous. It was proposed through discussions by common people, but it is now tested repeatedly by experts. We are happy about all these improvements. Yet these trends are merely a start. The education method in China today still has two defects. The first, the method is not consistent with the policy. You train a man, but you cannot make the most of him. The second, the whole set of ideas and the system borrowed from abroad don’t suit our national conditions. They cannot be fully implemented and fail to be effective in people’s lives. These are urgent affairs that we have to think hard about and take actions to improve. We have discussed both the education policy and method that need to be improved. And we will discuss further how we can do this. First, the educators should recognize that the education they are running is not yet perfect and has space for improvements. They should be modest without any preconceived ideas, arbitrary decisions, or content. Otherwise, if they are stubborn about ideas, there is no hope for them to make any improvements. They have to believe that the problems can be solved, and the hardships can be overcome. As long as they put in their efforts, they can make improvements in all aspects. If someone resigns himself to his fate, or doesn’t make any effort, we can never expect him to make any improvement. He could be improved by others. But if no one is willing to do so, his existence is merely due to his luck. Second, the educators, who work on improving education, should understand their own problems, as well as other people’s solutions to the same kind of problems. To research and make field observations are good ways for people to work on improving education. The following are some major examples of effective research and field observations in China. In the third year of

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the Republic of China, Huang Yanpei investigated education in China. In the tenth year of the Republic of China, Meng Lu and five colleagues surveyed actual education. In the twelfth year of the Republic of China, the China Education Improvement Institute conducted a national education statistics survey. All three covered multiple areas using surveys with multiple questions. And they all had a pretty wide influence. There were also some investigations of local education. In the seventh year of the Republic of China, Nanjing Higher Normal School conducted a Nanjing education survey. In the twelfth year of the Republic of China, the China Education Improvement Institute conducted a Beijing education survey. Both were the primary work of local education surveys. There were some investigations of elementary education, which had made considerable contributions to the elementary schools’ education, such as, in the twelfth year of the Republic of China, the China Education Improvement Institute did a survey on the elementary education; in the fourteenth year of the Republic of China, Yu Ziyi carried out a survey on how much the students in the elementary school liked or disliked the subjects. There were some investigations on one specific kind of education, which had great influence on the improvement of education. For example, in the eighth and ninth year of the Republic of China, the Chinese Vocational Education Institute investigated the strengths and weaknesses of the first and second type of vocational schools.5 From the eleventh to the thirteenth year of the Republic of China, the China Education Improvement Institute conducted a survey on science education in ten provinces, and it later carried out a survey on China’s libraries in the fourteenth year. In the thirteenth year of the Republic of China, the Jiangsu Compulsory Education Association and Improvement Institute investigated rural elementary schools. In the fifteenth year of the Republic of China, Jiangsu Provincial Department of Education inspected rural elementary schools. There were also some overseas education investigations. The earliest one was in the twenty-eighth year of the Guangxu period. Wu Rulun investigated Japan’s education. His East Tour Diary was presented to the education minister and had some influence on the Regius School Regulations. Tixue officers6 were later sent to Japan to study their education, which made our education more Japanized. The observation of United States’s education started from the third year of the Republic of China. Huang Yanpei was the director of Jiangsu

5 According to the Renzi Guichou School System, the vocational schools were divided into two types. The first type is similar to the current secondary professional school. The second type is similar to the current technical school. 6 The Tixue officers were in charge of education in the Qing Dynasty.

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Education Department at that time. He sent Guo Bingwen, Chen Rong,7 and Yu Ziyi to observe the education in the United States and Europe. Nanjing Higher Normal School was founded after they returned. Huang Peiyan visited the United States in the fourth year. We can read about his general idea in his book, The Fundamental Discussion about the Differences of Education between the Western and the Eastern Continents. The observation of the Philippines’s education in the sixth year by six people, three from the north and three from the south, directly led to the foundation of China’s vocational education. Later, Yuan Xitao8 organized a group to observe education in the United States and European countries. When they returned, they made great efforts in introducing the American and European education methods and ideals. The establishment of the new schooling system was largely influenced by these investigations and observational trips, directly or indirectly. These investigations and visits indeed showed the ability of “change;” however, it is hard to decide if the changes made were for the better or for the worse. Third, professionals in the field of education shall make efforts together in order to solve the common problems and make improvements. Therefore, educational conferences are very necessary. If we want to unify our spirit and share our experiences, the education conferences are indeed necessary. Many conferences were closely related to forming national thoughts on policies and schemes of the implementation of education, including the Central Government Education Conference of Qing Dynasty, the Temporary Education Conference in the first year of the Republic of China, the Chinese Joint Conference of Provincial Education since the fourth year, and the Annual Conferences of Chinese Vocational Education Institute, the China Education Improvement Institute, the National Association of Mass Education Movements, and the National Education Conference of large colleges last year. Now we have provincial education conferences and counties’ education conferences, and well-organized cities and townships also have their own education conferences. There are also joint conferences among the schools, such as the more influential Joint Conference of Secondary Education and the Joint Conference of Attached Elementary Schools. That is like the business run in own areas. Each of them has unique good experiences. The education conference of some 7 Guo Bingwe was the principal of Nanjing Higher Normal School and Southeast University. Chen Rong was the supervisor of Nanjing Higher Normal School, overseeing the school business. 8 Yuan Xitao (1866–1930), courtesy name Guanlan, was the undersecretary of the Beiyang government’s education ministry, the president of Jiangsu Education Association, and the director of the China Education Improvement Institute.

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specific topic, such as the seminar held by rural elementary schools to discuss the organization and the curriculum in May of the thirteenth year of the Republic of China, had aroused interest in the field of rural education. If the faculty in a school have formed some discussion groups, such groups would be of great help in improving the teaching of different subjects. Not only should the domestic educators have opportunities to discuss, but the international educators should also have opportunities to share their opinions. In the twelfth year, the World Education Conference was held in San Francisco. China sent delegates to the conference, expecting to use the education methods to gain international understanding, to enhance international empathy, and to advocate international justice. We believe if we continuously and carefully proceed in this way, this kind of conference will benefit the improvement of worldwide education greatly. Fourth, the investigations and visits enable people to learn from others. The conferences enable the sharing of experiences so that they become common knowledge. But we cannot develop new theories in these two ways. Without discovering the new theories, we are not making fundamental improvements. Experimental schools can serve the functions of the motivation of improving education and the source of discovering new theories. However, China has very few schools that are qualified as experimental schools, currently. The Attached Elementary and Secondary School of Southeast University used to try the Dalton Plan and the experimental work of designing the teaching methods. Beijing Yiwen Secondary School has been experimenting with the Dalton Plan recently. The purpose of founding Gulou Kindergarten is to experiment on the early childhood education. The China Education Improvement Institute considered the experimental schools to be the foundation of all the education improvement. It set a policy in December of the twelfth year, Our efforts in education will follow the way which suits our national conditions and life’s needs. We will choose some outstanding secondary schools, elementary schools and kindergartens, which share the same mission with us, and invite them to be our experimental schools. We will integrate the researchers’ academic theories with practitioners’ experiences in order to obtain notable results with lower costs. We will introduce the experimental results to the whole country momentarily, so that most schools can make progress in this way. According to this policy, the institute has invited Yanziji Elementary School, Yaohuamen Elementary School, Gulou Kindergarten, Nanjing Anhui Public School, and Beijing Yiwen Secondary School to be the experimental schools.

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In addition to the above-mentioned experimental schools, the institute will also establish an experimental rural kindergarten and an experimental rural normal school. It will be implemented soon. The most effective way to improve education is to use the successful experiences of some schools to influence other schools. Fifth, we need proper tools for investigations in order to understand where the problems are. We also need proper measurement tools for experiments in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the methods. Such tools are the tests. Like the stethoscope, the thermometer, and the x-ray in medical treatment and education psychological experiments, the tools are more reliable than merely stories told by others. In the eleventh and twelfth year of the ­Republic of China, the China Education Improvement Institute invited Dr. William A. McCall9 to China. Together with more than twenty other professors from Beijing Normal University, the education departments of Southeast ­University and other colleges designed over twenty kinds of tests. That could be referred to as the first attempt. We cannot say that those tests are perfect or very reliable. However, we won’t consider them as useless either. We should keep improving and refining those tests so that they can better help with the ­improvements of education. Sixth, the academic theories of education cannot exist in isolation. They are based on philosophy, psychology, biology, physiology, sociology, economics, and so on. Therefore, our efforts in improving all those related subjects will also benefit education theories. The cause of education cannot exist independently from the political system, culture and customs, professions, and the natural environments of a nation either. So when we strive for improvements in the political system, culture and customs, agriculture, industry, commerce, transportation, water conservancy, and other fields, we are also making improvements in education. If we want to achieve our goal of improving education, we cannot merely focus on the field of education. When we are working on improving education, we should be aware that many other related fields besides education require improvements, concurrently.

9 Dr. William A. McCall was an American education psychologist and professor of statistics and psychology at Columbia University.

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The New Education1 It’s my pleasure today to gather here together with you, comrades, to study education. Now please allow me to briefly talk about various elements of the new education. A

Needs of the New Education

Living in the new world of the twentieth century, we are obliged to build a new country. This new country should be a wealthy and strong republic. Yet how can we build such a new country? Undoubtedly, we need a good leader to guide ordinary citizens so that they can become wealthy, strong, and united; however, even though good leaders are not hard to come by, it’s no use if ordinary citizens are not able to distinguish good leaders from their opposites. Therefore, what we need now is a new form of national education to enlighten ordinary citizens, teach them to become citizens of a republic, and enable them to keep up with the times. Let me use an analogy. If a stepmother bathes her stepson with cold water and hot water alternately, she will only fail to leave her son satisfied. The new education we are trying to foster should be free from the same mistake as that made by the stepmother. Rather, it must cater to the needs of the times. B

Connotations of the New Education

Let’s first look at the connotation of “new.” Imagine a family is about to invite guests to dinner. It borrows everything they need from another family and gives it all back afterward. In this case, the house of the family only appears new when guests come, and it returns to its old state of being when guests leave. In essence, it is not new. The same is true with China’s education. If we learn from Japan at one moment, pattern after Germany at another moment, and then turn to France or the United States for reference, we will only end up 1 This article is a record of the commencement speech delivered by Mr. Tao Xingzhi at the Zhejiang First Normal College on July 22, 1919. The original article was published in Education Wave 1(4) September 1919.

© koninklijke brill nv, leiden, ���6 | doi 10.1163/9789004302853_010

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being at loose ends. Therefore, the first connotation of “new” is “renewed self.” The things that are new today will not necessarily remain new tomorrow; and the things that are new tomorrow will not necessarily remain so the day after tomorrow. Besides, just as taking a bath, one will remain clean only by taking a bath every day. Likewise, one should renew himself on a daily basis. This leads to the second connotation of “new,” which is “to constantly renew oneself.” Moreover, the “new” we are referring to should not only stay at the formal level but also ascend to the spiritual level. Only in this way can achieve uniformity between the inside and outside and so strike a balance. Hence, the third connotation of “new” is “to be brand new.” Then, what is “education”? According to Mr. Dewey, education refers to the continuous reconstruction of experience. Due to influences from the surrounding environment, we individuals are constantly going through changes, either for better or for worse. The role of education is to reconstruct people every day so as to enable them to constantly make progress toward a brighter future. In other words, education aims to reconstruct students’ experiences with new theories and new methods. C

Purposes of the New Education

The purpose of the new education is two-fold. The first is to enable students to make use of the natural world. For example, if we want to keep wind out while letting light in, we need to install glass windows in the wall. In the same way, we can have all things in nature, including light, electricity, water, and air, under our control. The ability to make use of things in the natural world is exactly the criterion for comparing the degree of material civilization between China and foreign countries. Nevertheless, the ability to make use of nature does not go without dangers. To name but one, creating detrimental weapons to disrupt the world order is the last thing we should do. Therefore, the second purpose of education is to instill the notion of republicanism in people’s minds so as to enable them to be dedicated to various causes, according to their own will while staying within the boundaries. To sum up, the purposes of education are to enable people to make use of nature, on the one hand, and seek common happiness, on the other hand. So to speak, the ultimate purpose of the new education is to equip people with these two abilities. To further conclude, the new education is aimed at cultivating “strong-minded,” “self-reliant,” and “self-motivated” citizens of a republic. To be strong-minded means that people should strive to be masters of both the natural world and the human world. It is similar to selling votes in an election. Candidates should decide by themselves

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whether to sell votes or not. A person who is really strong-minded will neither be corrupted by wealth, nor changed by poverty, nor bent by force. In that case, what can others do to rob him of his will? Likewise, self-reliant people are able to support themselves in both the natural world and the human world without asking others for help. However, people who are only self-reliant but not self-motivated will not be able to make progress, and thus do not suffice to be citizens of a republic. We must be aware that obedience is not only required in an authoritarian state but also expected in a republic. However, in the former case, citizens are forced to be obedient, whereas in the latter case, citizens are willing to be obedient by themselves. This is where the distinction lies. D

Methods of the New Education

This time I went from Nanjing to Shanghai and then to Jiaxing before I finally arrived in Hangzhou. I had various means of travel to choose from. To be specific, I could choose to go either on foot, or by ship, or by train, or by air. But among all these, which were better, which was the best, and which was the fastest? These are some of the considerations I had to make before I made my final choice. By the same token, the following aspects should be considered when we want to identify the best method: 1 Ensure Compliance with Purpose We should kill a chicken with a chopper and slaughter a cow with a butcher’s knife. This is what I mean by “fitness.” Likewise, education should also be geared toward its purpose. Now military training has been included in school curriculum to enable citizens to protect their own country. However, if the present training stays within the scope of teaching students to “stand at attention” or “step forward” only, it remains a question as to whether they will be able to meet an enemy attack in a few years. 2 Use Experience as Reference We should teach people to do things based on how we do them. Take swimming for example. Students should be taught how to swim in a swimming pool rather than in a classroom. If they are only taught in a classroom without any actual practice, I’m afraid they will sink the moment they jump into a swimming pool. There are various kinds of knowledge. For the kind of knowledge that can be obtained from books, we might as well make the books useful; as to the kind of knowledge that can’t be obtained from books, we will have to get it from somewhere else.

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3 Learn to Live Together People who are not able to work together with others will remain unable to do so even when they come upon the stage. Therefore, if we want citizens to embrace the republican spirit, we must require students to foster the spirit of republicanism first; and in order to enable students to foster the sense of republicanism, we must first provide them with an environment in which they can live together and help each other. 4 Exert Positive Influences Teaching people not to gamble or drink is a form of negative prohibition. The positive way of doing things is focused on teaching people to do good deeds so that they do not have the chance to do anything bad. Schools should organize well-intended games or sporting events on a regular basis to keep students occupied so that they will have no time or energy to do anything bad. 5 Lay Emphasis on Enlightenment Teaching and learning are not what school education is all about. More than that, school education should enable students to hone their will and develop their abilities. Confucius once said, “I do not open up the truth to one who is not eager to get knowledge, nor help out any one who is not anxious to explain himself.” To take a step further, we should push students to the brink of being desperate and anxious to get knowledge. Mr. Dewey also elaborated on how to teach students. He said teachers should, first of all, invite students to raise questions; then, they should guide students to pinpoint the difficulties and instruct them to come up with various solutions; after that, students should pick out the most effective solution to test if it works. If the solution fails to work, then students should choose another one; but if the solution works, students should take a step further in order to study the case. The final solution should be able to solve problems of the same kind. Therefore, Herbart’s five-segment teaching method is not applicable any more. 6 Encourage Students to be Self-Disciplined This means that students should be taught to discipline themselves and improve themselves in both learning and morality. 7 Facilitate Overall Development The new education should facilitate balanced development of both the body and mind. To be specific, physical sports should lay a foundation for students to enjoy sound development of his/her physical body, including sense of hearing, sense of vision, sense of taste, sense of smell, and sense of

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touch; intellectual education should enable students to not only know themselves but also make use of things in the natural world; and moral education should allow students to develop both social ethics and personal virtues. 8 Arouse Students’ Interests Once students have developed an interest, they will be willing to engage in what they are doing, whole-heartedly. Thus, it can be seen that “learning” and “joy” are inseparable. An ideal situation would be where teachers in the school teach with smiles and students learn with smiles. However, in some schools, masters wear long faces, which make all students afraid. Inevitably, some students skip classes. Therefore, it’s very important to arouse students’ interest in what they are expected to learn to keep them engaged. 9 Put Efficiency First No matter what we do, we should always strive to do it with the simplest, cheapest, most effort-saving, and most time-saving way in order to yield maximum effect. If it takes us one hour to do a certain thing with this method, while we can achieve the same result within ten or even five minutes by using another method, then the latter method should be chosen. Likewise, by making an overall comparison in terms of time, energy, money, and effect, we can identify the best method. So much for some general descriptions of the new education. Please allow me to take a rest for a few minutes before I go on to explain what requirements the new education has on school facilities, teachers, and students. E

New Schools

A school is a small society. In turn, society is a big school. Therefore, in order to enable all schools to form a small republic, it is necessary to carry out all social undertakings, one by one, according to the order of importance. We can’t let students feel that they are left all by themselves either in school or out of school. Instead, we should use schools as a platform to instill in students a sense of belonging to the republic. To be specific, schools should teach students everything they need to know, including physical knowledge, moral ethics, and politics. In this way, schools will form a society that takes good care of its citizens, down to every minute detail. The problem with the schools in our country lies not only in their isolation from society but also in the teacher-oriented approach where student participation is not encouraged. We must be aware that all social undertakings that should be made known

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to the public, the public should also participate in. Likewise, the things that should be managed by leaders in the minority, these leaders only should participate in. In this way, we will not rely on only one person or the minority of people. Instead, every student and every teacher will feel that the school is his/her school. Thus, they will be willing to share happiness and sorrow with the school. Only schools with that nature suffice to be counted as schools of a republic. F

New Students

The word “student” is identical to xuesheng in Chinese pinyin. The former word xue (literally translated as “to study”) means that students need to take the initiative to study instead of just sit in the classroom, waiting to be taught by the teacher. If students only repeat what their teacher says, it will be no different from learning opera. In that case, students will be reduced to being no better than gramophones. The latter word sheng means to survive or to live. What students learn are the laws of life. Laws of life can be either noble or vulgar, either complete or superficial, either permanent or ephemeral, and either spiritual or formal. The “study” we are talking about should prepare students for a noble life, a complete life, a spiritual life, and an ever-lasting life. To take a step further, the new students should not separate study from life. Instead, they should incorporate study into life. Then, is study aimed at preparing one for the future? Or is the present part of one’s whole life? Since it’s already known to us that education is a transformation of continued experience, then both the natural world and the human world are meant to be influenced by it. One continues to be educated by experiencing changes every day. In other words, learning is a lifelong process that begins at one’s birth and only ends upon one’s death. Have you ever spent one day without learning? Have you learnt anything not for the purpose of living? Confucius came to be able to follow his heart’s desire without overstepping the boundaries only when he turned seventy. Before that, he had been making progress day after day. Anyone that has changed us suffices to be our teacher. Even we ourselves are still students. In the past, we were students only when we were in classrooms. Once we came back home, we stopped being students. In comparison, now we are all students in society. In essence, only by being lifelong students can we live a fulfilled life without feeling empty. If we continue to be students after leaving school, we will continue to be educated. Therefore, only those who do everything for the purpose of becoming the most noble, complete, permanent, and spirited people can be counted as good students.

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New Teachers

The new teachers should not focus on teaching but on guiding students to learn. First and foremost, the new teachers should have faith in education. To be specific, they must believe that education is a great cause that will bring long-lasting benefits rather than temporary good to the world. Besides, not only universities or higher education institutions but also elementary schools can make a huge difference. For example, Friedrich Frobel, who studied elementary education, became a great pedagogue. Every elementary school teacher who enjoys the status of a teacher boasts about his/her own ability. As long as they recognize their own abilities and bring them into full play, they can succeed. For another example, both Pestalozzi and Montessori became well-known for studying elementary education. Even Mr. Dewey was dedicated to studying elementary education. All these are facts, not false praises. Once, I saw a pair of couplets on the doors of a village temple. They said, “Although the temple only occupies a limited space, it encompasses unlimited spirit.” An analogy can be perfectly drawn from this to elaborate on education. Moreover, although our school is small, it is all-inclusive. Therefore, those elementary school teachers should not let this opportunity to make a difference go by. What’s more, they are also filled with joy while fighting for the cause. We ourselves might think that teachers in elementary schools must be living very hard lives, because they only face a limited number of students, teach in small classrooms, get low wages, and have to revise a lot of homework. Then what kind of joy can they get? However, as a matter of fact, teachers in elementary schools are able to witness how little students gradually grow up and how they transform from children without knowledge into adults with knowledge. It’s just like watching a seed grow from a sprout into a tree with branches. Watching this tree blossom and bear fruit can bring the person who sows the seed tremendous joy. To conclude, firstly, people who are dedicated to great causes can get great joy themselves. Now that we want to build a new country, cultivate new citizens, and create a new society, we have no choice but to be dedicated whole-heartedly to this great cause. Those elementary teachers who do not believe in what I say can choose to quit their jobs. After all, people in the same country enjoy the freedom to choose different career paths. For example, some may choose to be soldiers, some workers, some officials. Everyone can follow their own will and choose to do what they are meant to do. Despite this, we must recognize that education is a great cause that will bring teachers great joy. It is the same with elementary teachers, middle school teachers, or university teachers. Secondly, the new teachers should have a strong sense of responsibility. This means that, first

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of all, teachers should be responsible for teaching their own children in their family and their students in the classroom. They should also pass on knowledge to all other children, regardless of where they are from. As long as there is one child that has not received education, this child cannot be counted as a republican citizen. Let me make a comparison. Out of one hundred people in the United States, ninety-nine have received education, whereas among one hundred Chinese people, only one has received education. What’s worse, among twenty-four Chinese students, there is only one female student. How long will it take for us to enable those who are educated to become the majority instead of the minority? The answer lies in nothing but lifelong dedication to education. Besides, we do not have much time to utilize between the ages of twenty and sixty, when we have what is needed to make a difference. But even if we are not able to achieve this great cause in our lifetime, we should pass it on to future generations. We should by no means treat education in the same attitude as staying in a hotel, in which case we take everything for granted after staying for one night or several nights. Otherwise, how is it possible for education to be developed? Thirdly, the new teachers should embrace the republican spirit. In other words, they should not assume the attitude of officials. Instead, the new teachers should share happiness and sorrow with students in everything, participate in what students do and provide them with guidance. Fourthly, the new teachers must have a pioneering spirit. Now we have come to the stage where we should make education flourish not only in where it is already accessible but also in places where it is not yet available, such as the countryside and border regions, like Mongolia and Xinjiang. That is to say, we should make education available across the country. We must be brave enough to forge ahead single-handedly with the same spirit as that of foreign missionaries, who are afraid of nothing but failure to preach their religions. We must be aware of how desperate people in the border regions are for education and enable them to know what a republic is like. It is urgent that we enlighten them so as to divert them from their original paths to the paths they ought to embark upon. Fifthly, the new teachers should have the perseverance to do continuous experiments. Some people take the initiative to make continued progress, whereas some do nothing more than what they are told to do. The latter ones have no other books than textbooks. Now that you have all graduated, there is no better time for us to discuss education than now. We are all used to following the orders of our superiors. However, the orders from our superiors are only concerned with the overall situation. The details need to be worked out by us in practice. After having worked out the result by trying all possible methods, we will be able to judge the merits and demerits of the orders. Only by conducting repeated experiments and making continued

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analyses can we arrive at the final conclusion. If we only rely on patterning after foreign approaches or dreaming about what we can do, we will likely end up doing nothing at all. Daydreaming, following the old ways, and blindly patterning after foreign approaches are all dangerous. People used to say, “One is able to learn new things by reviewing the old.” However, the so-called new ways, having being introduced from abroad to China and then to Hangzhou, have already become old. Therefore, my fellow graduates, you mustn’t expect to find out the truths without making experiments yourselves. Otherwise, you will fall behind your counterparts. H

New Curriculum

The new curriculum should be made according to the perspective of both society and individuals. In terms of society, we have to first ask if the curriculum complies with the trend of the times and the spirit of a republic. Then we should go on to consider if students can become powerful citizens in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, and Zhejiang, as well as China at large, after being taught in accordance with the curriculum. When it comes to individuals, each person should be taught what they are supposed to learn. To be specific, children should be taught what children are supposed to know, and farmers should be taught what farmers are supposed to know. Let me use algebra as an example and explain to you whether this course should be taught in school. Once I asked my students: “How many of you have used algebra?” Of the one hundred students sitting in the classroom, only seven or eight students raised their hands. Then I continued to ask: “How many of you haven’t used algebra?” More than ninety students raised their hands. Later I checked which parts of algebra those seven or eight students had used. I found to my surprise that it took only a week or at most a month for me to teach them what they needed to know about algebra. It can be seen from this example that we should be flexible in teaching. Do we have to sacrifice the needs of the ninety students or so for the sake of teaching the seven or eight students algebra? Even if those seven or eight students become astronomers, workers, or teachers, they only need to use very little knowledge of algebra. Therefore, we should neither sacrifice ninety-nine students for one student nor sacrifice one student for ninety-nine students. This means that we must take the needs of all people in society into consideration and adjust the curriculum accordingly. In other words, we should include in the curriculum other useful courses that previously have been left out and remove the redundant courses.

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New Textbooks

In terms of textbooks alone, some authors used to be teachers, other not. Authors of the latter sort make books based on their own opinions without knowing the actual practices in other places. How can the textbooks written by them fulfill their intended purposes? Therefore, textbooks should be used for reference only. Otherwise, if students believe in whatever textbooks say, they might as well have no textbooks at all. Apart from textbooks, there are also handouts, which should be regarded equal to account books. All cultures and customs in society are recorded in account books. We should carefully examine whether account books are useful and correct. Take a man of wealth as an example. Even if he has written down all his assets in an account book and passes on the book to his son, his son will remain confused about the details if the man has not pointed out with his own fingers to his son which of the houses and fields belong to him, as written in the book. Perhaps several fields and houses have already been sold, or a few fields and houses have been bought, but the transactions have not yet been recorded in the book. All in all, he should make sure that his son knows everything recorded in the account book. Only in this way will the account book fulfill its intended purpose. By the same token, teachers should guide students with what’s said in textbooks and keep them abreast of what’s already changed. For example, North Korea today is different from that of a few years ago; and Russia has been divided into a dozen Union Republics.2 Therefore, what’s written in textbooks about Russia before is no longer applicable now. In a word, we should be aware of what is actually going on rather than indiscriminately believing in what is written in account books. Account books are inflexible, whereas people are flexible. Thus, account books should be utilized by people instead of the other way around. We must be aware that many cultures have not been included in account books. Therefore, relying solely on textbooks is harmful for students. J

Evaluation of the New Education

Assume that I go into a store to buy something. If the salesperson gives me something else, I will not agree. Why do you give me that when I want this? 2 The Union Republics of the Soviet Union, or the Republics of the Soviet Union, were ethnically based administrative units that were subordinated directly to the government of the Soviet Union.

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The same is true with education. Only by evaluating the new education for the purpose of fulfilling its objective can we be free from wasting our energy and money. Just think about it. How many graduates from agricultural, industrial, or business universities are doing what they are supposed to do? If we do not evaluate the results and allow people to blindly continue doing what they have been doing, it will be no different from the situation where a mother has her other daughters married without using the marriage of her eldest daughter as reference. In the latter case, if her second and third daughters end up suffering the same hardship as her eldest daughter does, the fault should all be blamed on the mother because she did not make proper evaluations. As to other aspects, I have already mentioned them on other occasions, so I do not intend to repeat them here. All in all, if you want to make education available across the country, you must, first of all, bear the purpose of education firmly in mind. If we want to achieve something, we must be prepared to do what it takes to do that. We can by no means succeed without going through trials and tribulations. May we ask how you can do things well without affording any cost? When the new education is concerned, everyone has their own share in the responsibility to popularize education. As teachers, we are obliged to not only teach students but also try to make people recognize the necessity of receiving education. For example, a wealthy family is able to have their child educated. But if its neighboring family cannot afford to have their child educated, when the two children play together, the one from the wealthy family may be corrupted by the negative influences of the underprivileged child. Therefore, teaching one’s own child alone is not enough. This reason should be made understood by the general public. Men are sentimental creatures. They have senses and will understand how this works. Although we will be met with difficulties on the way to popularizing education, we will be able to overcome them with our own strengths.

chapter 10

The Fundamental Reform of China’s Rural Education1 China’s rural education has taken the wrong road. It teaches people to leave the villages for the cities. It teaches people eat rice but not to grow it, to wear clothes but not to plant cotton, and to build houses but not to proceed with afforestation. In addition, it teaches students to admire luxury and to look down upon farming. It makes people split but not create profits and turn the offspring of farmers into nerds. By the end, it has made the rich poor and the poor even poorer, the strong weak and the weak even weaker. The path lying ahead of us is headed into a deep precipice. Therefore we have to pull back before it is too late and find another way to develop our education. But where is the right path? That path lies in building active education that fits into the everyday life of the rural area. We should start from the real rural life, build active central schools, and then build active rural teacher colleges. Active teachers colleges in rural areas will enable us to produce active teachers, who will cultivate active students and nationals. Active rural education requires active rural teachers. They should be equipped with the skills of farmers, the knowledge of scientists, and the spirit to reform the world. Active rural education also demands flexible approaches, which means unity among teaching, learning, and reflective acting: teach in the same way as it is learned, learn in the same way as it gets done; do in the same way as it is learned. In addition, active rural education requires using the changing environment, rather than a set book. Such an education is supposed to utilize the dynamics in the environment to develop students’ capacity to conquer nature and remold society. In fact, it is during that process that education should encourage students to employ the dynamics in the environment to develop their capacity. Such an education will help students turn desolate mountains into forests, tracks of unproductive lands into fields of grain. It will also educate farmers to be independent, autonomous, and self-defensive. With such an education, countryside becomes paradise where people are happy immortals. 1 This passage was the speech delivered by Tao Xingzhi at the Rural Education Symposium on December 12, 1926. Mr. Tao convened members of the China Education Improvement Institute in Shanghai. It was originally published in China Education Reform, April 1928.

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From now on, schools should be judged based on students’ vitality, rather than the school buildings and facilities. In judging rural schools, we shall ask the following questions: have the barren lands been reclaimed, the desolate mountains afforested, transportation fully developed? Is everyone in the village able to support him/herself? Has the local self-governance become civil engagement owned, run, and shared by the people? This form of active education could not be achieved by the education community or any other community alone. Only with a large-scale union among various parties, can we succeed. Among different parties, the first that we need to unite is the education and agriculture communities. It is the separation between our education and agriculture that leads to the failure of our rural education. On the one hand, without blending in agriculture, education will be a void that only encourages our students to split the profits and consume resources. On the other hand, without blending in education, agriculture will lose a way to promote itself. Agricultural promotion will have a base camp if rural schools, as the central organization, could have a deep understanding of such scientific agricultural knowledge as seed selection, fertilizer mixture, and pest prevention. If we could conduct such education and agriculture at the same time, progress will be made in leaps and bounds. Therefore, we should have education and agriculture jointed, hand in hand. However, to ensure that this union is fully effective, it is more crucial for education to connect with other important aspects. United with banks, education would help overturn exorbitant usury; combined with science research organizations, it could help abolish superstition; connected with health authorities, it could help prevent diseases; put in full touch with authorities of transportation, it could improve transportation management. In short, the rural school is the only possible center for transforming today’s rural areas in China. The power of this reform depends on the extent to which education is connected with other aspects in real life. Rural education concerns the well-being of 340 million people. Managed well, education could bring benefits to farmers; otherwise, trouble will befall them. Comrades from the educational circles should conduct an overall review and assessment so as to achieve self-transformation. Our new mission is to muster one million comrades to establish one million new schools and transform one million villages. We invite our fellow citizens to join us in this movement with the greatest sincerity. Together, we can support its development and push for its implementation, renewing villages across China, wholeheartedly. Let’s bring vigor into every country across China. Pulling together, all these efforts will create a great new life for this Republic. December 1926

chapter 11

An Outline for Democratic Education1 Today I will just propose some topics as an outline for our future discussion. I hope everyone will offer advice for amendments and addenda. 1

The Old and the New Democracy

The old democracy serves a small group of people, where the few bourgeoisie are master. The new democracy serves the masses, where the broad masses of the people make the decisions. 2

The Creative and the Vulgar Democracy

The vulgar democracy is no more than formalism and equalitarianism. Such democracy is superficial, only consisting of procedures, such as voting and so on. The creative democracy mobilizes all people’s creativity. Everyone shall enjoy equal opportunity to utilize the most of his/her creativity. Therefore, the creative democracy is related to the democratic creation I have talked about before. The democratic creation means the majority of people can produce their creativity. During authoritarian times, only a few people were able to create. The majority of people’s creativity was neglected. Or people were so poor and so swamped by making a living that they never got a chance to use their creativity. Even if some people got a chance, they would meet with tremendous obstacles, as well. The democratic creativity is the creativity of the majority of people. It provides everyone chances to create, which is different from the authoritarian creation. 3

Using Democracy in the Field of Education

Using democracy in the field of education has two levels of meaning. First, democratic education means “owned by people,” “managed by people,” and “enjoyed by people.” “Owned by people” means education belongs to ordinary 1 This article was originally published in Wartime Education 9 (2) May 1945.

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people. “Managed by people” means ordinary people run education by themselves. For example, during the time of Shanhai Gongxuetuan,2 the civilians founded the Xiqiao Gongxuetuan. The peasants’ children ran the school for the nearby villages. The board members and the principal were civilians. Another example would be, after Xiaozhuang School was shut down, the students of Xiaozhuang School could no longer run the school in Xiaozhuang. But the civilians didn’t want the old-style private school either. So the young people founded the Yuergang Zidong Elementary School on their own. The case in northern Shaanxi province, which encouraged nongovernment-funded education, was quite similar. “Enjoyed by people” means education should meet the needs of ordinary people. It’s different from the old times, when the governor let people gain some degree of literacy to enable them to read the public notices, and hence people would be easier to manage. Therefore, only people educated by government “owned by,” “managed by,” and “benefited by” people can lead education that is “owned by people,” “managed by people,” and “enjoyed by people.” Second, democratic education requires people to try their best, to learn what they need, and to teach what they know. “To try their best” means everyone gives full play to his/her ability. “To learn what they need” is hard to achieve at the current stage, due to restrictions from economic conditions. But “to teach what they know” is achievable. With the democratic politics, how many educators do we need to run education in various regions, especially under the situation where many people are uneducated in China? If one educator can teach forty people, then two million teachers can teach eighty million children. The normal schools do not have the capacity to train enough teachers. So all people need to teach what they know. If we can achieve the aims of “to try their best,” “to learn what they need,” and “to teach what they know,” we can also be successful in having education, which is “owned by people” “managed by people,” and “enjoyed by people.” 4

The Objects and the Purposes of Education

“Knowledge serves the public” and “education serves the public” are both the purposes of education. However, we can still teach students in accordance of their aptitude. National mass education is slightly different from talents 2 Gongxuantuan: work, science learning, teamwork. Tao advocated that the life education shall contain three indispensable components: Work to support living; learn science to understand life; and form groups to protect lives.

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education. National mass education requires everyone receive free education. But people with special talents ought to be educated in some special way, so that their gifts can be fully utilized. That is called talents education. The purpose of talents education is not to enable the talents to gain higher social status and be successful in either politics or business, but to train them to serve the public with what they have learnt. So this is also in accordance with “knowledge serves the public.” Males and females should enjoy equal chances to earn an education. Now in some places, such as Nanchong, the sex segregation issue is still very serious. Female and male students are not allowed to talk to each other. I can say, the females’ education in such places must be underdeveloped. People, no matter if they are rich or poor, should also get equal chance to be educated. Last time in Caojie Township, a social group investigated the uneducated children and found that 74% of school-aged children became dropouts. The children who could attend center elementary schools were mostly from the landlords’ families. Few of them were from tenant peasants’ families. Democratic education should offer an equal chance for education to poor people. No matter old or young, people should get an equal chance to earn an education. “Life education” proposed long ago that one was never too old to learn. In the life education movement, the oldest student was Mrs. Wang at the age of 83. She said, “I don’t have much time left, why should I study?” However, she got enthusiastic in studying after being encouraged by her grandson and greatgrandson. Because of her, her daughter-in-law started to study, too. The issue of qualification is that people with qualifications will be promoted while those without qualifications will be pushed out of the door. However, democratic education only cares about one’s ability, not qualifications. The qualifications are meant to be the proof of one’s ability. If we can obtain direct proof of one’s ability, why should we stick to the qualifications? As long as one can show his/her ability, he/she will be able to further progress. Minority group education is also an issue now. In the past, the minority groups were not considered ethnic groups, but referred to as the inhabitants of border areas. To educate the minority groups, such as Miao, we forced them to learn Chinese, and we sent Han teachers to teach them. But a democratic education allows them to learn their own characters and languages. If they don’t have written languages, we shall help them create one. We shall let them run their own schools and train their own talents, so that they can be educated by their own ethnic teachers. The Mongolians used to hire people from other ethnic groups to teach. What’s the use of this kind of education? And one more thing, people should have the opportunity to receive edu­ cation, no matter which class they belong to. Peasants, workers, and their

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children are mostly deprived of education. Peasants and workers work so hard for a whole day. Yet, they still don’t have enough food to eat, how can they think about education? The democratic education should try to ensure that these classes of people have equal opportunities to receive education. In conclusion, “education serves the public” means equal opportunity for all. People get equal opportunities for learning and making progress when they attend school. After they have left the school, they have the same opportunities if they want to return to school. If someone drops out of school, he/she should have an equal opportunity to receive extra tutoring. And ordinary people should have the opportunity to run schools and take charge of education. 5

The Methods of Democratic Education

The methods of democratic education should make students self-motivated, and inspire them to be conscious, objective, and scientific. The methods are not limited to some specific way. They should be varied. We need to teach students in accordance with their aptitude. We should also integrate our life with education. We need to use cost-saving methods in China. If we cannot afford textbooks, we should find all kinds of substitutes. For instance, the shop signs can be the textbooks. The tree branches can be pens. The surface of a desk can be paper. When the soldiers of the Eighth Route Army were marching, they brought a set of learning tools with them, which was only a wooden pen. Whenever they stopped and took a rest, they would write and learn to read the characters with the pen. Since the new democracy is led by peasants and workers, we have to use some cost-saving methods to educate the masses. If everyone in the area of Caojiezi were to purchase a pencil, it would cost 400 thousand yuan. So we have to think of a more inexpensive way that doesn’t use pencils. Only then can we achieve “education serves the public.” There is another strategy. If the students cannot come to school, we can teach door-to-door. “We don’t refuse anyone. If someone cannot come, we can teach at their places.” For example, we can teach the shepherd on the back of the buffalo. Only then can we achieve “education serves the public.” Finally, we have to bring up again the importance of creativity. When we make the students self-motivated, they shouldn’t be motivated in random directions. We should guide them into the way of creativity, using both their hands and minds. This requires six liberations: (1) liberation of eyes and perspectives. Refuse the feudal blinkers so that their eyes can see the facts; (2) liberation of hands; (3) liberation of minds. Don’t be fetishistic or prejudiced. Don’t be influenced by so-called destiny and the Fascism; (4) liberation of mouth.

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Children should have freedom of speech. They should be allowed to talk directly with the teachers. And they should be happy and willing to do that. Then, the teachers would understand the struggles and sufferings of the children; (5) liberation of spaces. Don’t lock the students in cages. With democratic education, the schools should be much larger. We shall free children with access to nature and society. We can achieve “to try their best,” “to learn what they need,” and “to teach what they know,” only if the spaces are expanded; (6) liberation of time. We always advocate for this, but we haven’t really achieved it. Teachers, students, and workers should have some spare time, so that they can digest and think through what they have learnt and do some meaningful work. 6

Democratic Teachers

Democratic teachers should: (1) be modest; (2) be tolerant; (3) share happiness and woe with students; (4) learn from ordinary people; (5) learn from children. It may sound a bit strange. Here, teachers sharing happiness and woe with students doesn’t mean that teachers should learn everything from the children. What I’m suggesting is that only those teachers who are willing to learn from the children can be qualified as democratic teachers, otherwise they are authoritarian teachers. The leaders in democratic countries learn from their people, otherwise they would be authoritarian devils; (6) eliminate some negative aspects, including formalism, teachers’ airs, and strict boundaries between teachers and students. 7

Teaching Materials for Democratic Education

Teaching materials for democratic education should select the essence of the abundant. We ought to seek for some extracurricular materials besides the textbooks and live teaching materials from nature and the society outside of the school. 8

Curriculums for Democratic Education

First, the contents: currently, the gap between the rich and the poor is so large that most ordinary people live in poverty. Therefore, it’s important to understand society. In addition, if science is not developed, we cannot produce wealth. So we need to have scientific manufacturing and scientific ways of

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working. If we lose the Anti-Japanese War, China will perish! Therefore education should do everything in its power to strive for the victory. It should inspire people to try their best to turn the war of resistance against aggression into counterattack. Second, the curriculum organization: the organization of curriculum should be multileveled and include both popularization and advancement. All the ordinary people can receive an education, while talented people can also further develop. Third, the curriculum should be both systematic and flexible. We shall seek for the liberation of time in the curriculum. 9

The Democratic Education System

The democratic education system includes three principles, starting with the single track. There are several kinds of education systems in the world. Germany adopts the double-track approach. Poor people receive a national education first and vocational education later. Rich people enter university directly after high school. Democratic education begins with the single track. No matter rich or poor, people all start with the single track, which will later divide into multiple tracks, according to their talents. Although people go on with different tracks, they will, in the end, contribute their power to the war of resistance against aggression, and the country. We call this method different tracks leading to the same destination. We should also make it convenient for people to transfer between tracks when, for instance, people’s abilities change. In old times, students rushed to take the imperial examinations, which cost the students much time in the long run. That was one of the reasons why the students didn’t have time to think. Democratic education also needs examinations. Yet, it doesn’t cost the students as much time along their way. It only assesses the achievement. It doesn’t put too much emphasize on individual grades, but values more the group’s achievements, which are not judged merely by the test scores. Democracy doesn’t mean absolute freedom. Democracy has its own discipline, which is different from the authoritarian one. The authoritarian discipline demands people to follow blindly. The democracy discipline is conscious and collective. People should not only obey it but also know the underlying reasons for it. Besides that, childcare centers should be established, for peasants, workers, and civil servants. In this way, women will be liberated from housework. The colleges should work on the following aspects. First, the entrance examination

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should not emphasize diplomas too much. The colleges should increase the enrollment rate of the coequal educational level. Second, the colleges should create a free environment for academic studies, readings, and discussions. Third, more tutorial colleges and night colleges should be established. Regarding this, we should learn from Japan, as there are many night colleges there. We shall help the skilled workers in factories and skilled peasants in collaborative farms to get the opportunity to receive a college education. As for studying abroad, as long as we can learn in China, or we can invite foreign professors to teach in China, we shall stay and study in China. If due to restrictions in equipment, some subjects cannot be studied in China, we would then send college graduates who have strong research abilities to study abroad as graduate students. 10

Administration of Democratic Education

First, people are encouraged to run schools that serve the democracy. Privaterun schools cannot be like some American private schools, which promote certain religious prejudice. Second, students are encouraged to manage their own business. Third, the investigations shouldn’t be bureaucratic. The school shall not develop a culture of status. The inspectors and school superintendents should have three functions: (1) they should encourage people to run schools; (2) they should investigate if the schools are in accordance with democratic principles; (3) they must realize that they are not investigating a case, but actively providing guidance on how to run the schools better. People’s schools may be crude and far from being perfect. Inspectors should be well aware of this and avoid frightening the people there when they visit a school. Instead, they should bring with them the spring breeze. The democratic principal has four missions: (1) The principal shall train the in-service teachers, who come from different places. He is responsible for making sure that the teachers make progress. (2) The principal should enable the students to make diverse progress with the help of the faculty. (3) He should select some students, making them little teachers, to go out and serve ordinary people. (4) He should open the school gate. He should use the power of society to improve the school. Meanwhile, he shall also use the school’s power to improve society. He should adopt the view that the whole society is a school and the school is only a classroom. Only in this way can he fulfill the duties of a principal and make democratic contributions to the whole society. The school itself will become the breeding ground of democracy and cultivate useful people.

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The Democratic Mass Education

Where the people are is where the democratic education should be. Households, shops, teahouses, and ship docks could all become classrooms. We can even teach in the air-raid shelters. Systematic education can be offered in museums, cinemas, and libraries. The experts should be invited to give talks that explain their knowledge in simple language. If experts are not available, we should figure out other methods, so that people can learn knowledge without a teacher. 12

The Chinese Characters in Democratic Education

Having people learn two thousands Chinese characters can be as hard as asking them to paint two thousands pictures. Some people claim that Chinese characters are too difficult to learn and that they should be abandoned. Some others suggest that we don’t need to replace Chinese characters with letters, but use alphabets as phonetic notations instead. I would argue that we should use all three formats, including traditional characters, new characters, and phonetic alphabets. First, according to estimates, there are eighty million people who can read Chinese characters. Even if we lower our expectation to five million, it is still a very powerful group of people. Therefore, we don’t need to overthrow it, but to make the best use of it. Second, it’s very easy to teach people the new characters. We have experimented in Shanghai. After one month’s study, people can read letters. If they had some knowledge of English, three hours would be enough for them to learn the new Chinese characters. Third, if someone likes phonetic alphabets, he can also use phonetic alphabets to help people. I hope the different forms of written languages can be united democratically as are the political parties. Chinese characters are like handcarts. Phonetic alphabets are like cars. And new characters are like planes. We can unite the advocates of various characters and achieve the unity of the diverse.

chapter 12

Experimentalism and New Education1 The Chinese character “new” is interpreted as harvesting wood in the Analytical Dictionary of Characters. Once cropped, trees can grow again, so being new in that sense means emerging endlessly. Is this what distinguishes new education from old education? The truth of education is endless. If you can discover it, the education is new, even though it is in the old format. If you cannot, the education stays old, even though it is newly formatted. Therefore, whether the education is new or not depends on its potential to explore the truth. How to discover the truth? No thing can be independent of its environment. The same thing looks different from case to case. Hence, if we want to know the truth, we have to first constrain the environment and then see how it works. The spirit of experiment has been the origin of all exploration in the last few decades. Those with expertise in experimenting make assumptions, choose research methods, and normalize all they plan to correct: bring closer those far away, enlarge those too small, simplify those too complex, purify those mixed, analyze those compound, unify those apart, test with multiple methods, verify with multiple tests, compare the differences and similarities, check the increases and decreases, monitor activity, observe changes, and then find the causal relationships and approach the truth. For example, in an experiment that tests two teaching methods, we must equalize all experiment conditions. That is to say, we have to first balance the teachers, the books, the facilities, the times, the places, and the students. The students’ age, gender, socioeconomic status, and education should be controlled. Then they are taught with different teaching methods, so that we can compare the results. After multiple tests, we can conclude which method is better. Thus, if you want to know how to remain new, you first need to know how to get rid of the old. Experimenting is a way of removing the old. I argue there are five things pertaining to an old education and that only experiment can change the old education and make it new. What are the five old things? The first is the dependence on nature. Those who depend on natural power wait for signs of the universe and objects, and believe that whether a thing is a success or failure and whether it goes smoothly or not are determined 1 This article was published in New Education 1 (1) February 1919. When the author put this article in the book of The Revolution of Chinese Education, he deleted the second paragraph (which is no longer used) and kept the last few sentences at the end of the first paragraph.

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by destiny. Among its negative consequences, this belief allows the universe and objects to control the people who pursue uncertain cause and effect with limited time. How can they avoid falling into trouble? (“Trouble” here means losing the ability of self-awareness.) Although sometimes the ability exists, it may come out of accident. Even though there is some regularity, it sometimes indicates disaster. How can we look for the extreme cases to discover the new? Xunzi once questioned, Why do we worship the universe rather than control it as it is an object or livestock? Why do we obey and praise the universe rather than understand and apply the regularities in nature? Why do we let things to grow out of control rather than use skills to adjust the growth so that it matches our need? Why do we want to own things that do not belong to us rather than manage and retain our own things? These sentences are the key to the experimental spirit. Those who are good at experiments utilize things instead of being utilized, and control the universe instead of being controlled. Only by overcoming nature with manpower can we explore the secret of nature and keep it new. The second old thing is following old methods. Stubborn people consider following old rules as admirable. Before they act or speak, they will check to see if there is a precedent. If there is, although the example is bad, they will not question it; if there is not, although something is good, they will not do it. However, situations, as well as problems, now differ from in the past. Now that problems have changed, so should the methods we use to solve them. Therefore, the method that can be applied to old problems might not fit our new ones. If you only persist in solving the new problems with old rules, it is no different than inserting a round tenon into a square mortise—it will not fit. How can we expect, then, to progress? Hence, if we want to update and advance education, we must first do experiments that will teach us to teach ourselves. We have to first be able to teach ourselves before we can invent new things; if we can invent new things, automatically, old methods will be removed and education gets updated. The third old thing is conducting willful and capricious acts. Education is a special career that places learning before achievements. Nevertheless, some educators want to control the direction of progress with their own temporal thoughts. Thus, some of them think without learning and dream of nothing; some know things partially and do things arbitrarily; others act before thinking and end up with nothing solved. Those who live in fantasy cannot see new things; those who act arbitrarily end their own way of correcting and updating

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themselves; those who can solve can nothing hold no hope of new things. If we want to correct this, we have to let the thoughts and acts be grounded. When a problem comes, we must use all means to find the way to solve it, restrict it, and make use of it. All of the above are solved by way of experiment. The fourth thing that we should get rid of is the urge to imitate other countries. Those so-called “new figures” are always proud of their ability to copy other countries’ systems; and ordinary people always call “new figures” those they meet who can imitate foreigners. Despite this phenomenon, can they truly be new? When a thing has been invented, it is usually first kept as a secret. How long does it take to go from being a secret to being public? Then, how long does it take to go from being public to being transmitted? Let alone, sometimes what we imitate is wrong. Wrongly transmitting something wrong will even have worse effects. Although we can get the truth, it still takes a long time to be put into effect. Perhaps what we call new has already been old for others. This would not be unique. Some conditions among China and other foreign countries are the same, while some are not. If we mirror others in the same situation to solve our problems, it is like using a stone from another mountain to break jade and will probably work. If we imitate others in different situations, the method that works for others might not work for us. If you try to observe the current education in China, you will find everywhere things that should not exist but not things that should exist. Isn’t this the mistake of copying other countries? If we can devote our heart to experiments, we can then invent things according to our needs, which will be enough to help us solve problems by ourselves. It is also enough to teach others the common principle. The progress of education will then be at hand. The fifth old thing we should avoid is occasionally conducting trials. When some doctrine is distributed, there must be some people who admire the name while lose the true meaning. The bad thing is that being close may be far away from the truth. At that time people cannot know their mistake and wrongly take the experiment as a trial. They take action without any clear plan or method. Before something new appears, they abandon it half way through. The true experimenter will not do things like this. They will make plans and decide on certain methods. They think it is normal to meet obstacles and failures, but they have remarkable resilience and the ability to continue their persistent efforts. Though it might not lead to a success, the world will be advanced from here, and so will education. Is this something that can be done by those who only make trials? Besides showing the flaws in old ways, experiments can open up new ways that can always be updated. How can the use of experiments not be influential? Making detailed inference, discovering that not yet discovered, and

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understanding that not yet understood are the strengths of experiments. A method that never dies in the thousand years of the Chinese history is “acquire knowledge and dissect objects.” However, Huian2 and Yangming3 held different views of how to discover truth. Huian said to “approach the object and discover the truth,” which is close. However, how should we discover the truth? If there is no way to approach the object and discover the truth, we cannot dissect the object and acquire knowledge. Yangming once tried to approach the object and discover the truth. He said, At the beginning of year, I discussed with my friend surnamed Qian on how to be a wise person and dissect all the objects in the world….Then I pointed to the bamboo in the front garden and asked him to dissect it. Qianzi4 went to study the bamboo day and night, used up all his thoughts, and became tired and ill on the third day. He said at that time that he had not enough energy, therefore I went to study the bamboo by myself, but could not get the truth [working] day and night. I got tired and ill on the seventh day….After I spent three years in Yi, I finally found the meaning in it, and then I realized that there are no things that can be dissected in the world. All the dissection should be done to your own body and heart. Similar things are done because they do not get the right method to dissect and study objects. If Yangming went further, instead of blaming the objects for not being able to be dissected, but rather to blame himself for not getting the right method, and tried hard to take on the responsibility of correcting the method, then how can the Chinese still have contributed nothing to the recent history of invention? However, it is not too late to fix the fence after losing sheep. If all the educators can get rid of the five old habits of depending on nature, following old methods, conducting willful and capricious acts, imitating other countries, and occasionally conducting trials, and focus on experiments, then everything, including education, will be new as long as they apply the method to it. Isn’t this the strategy we need to make the country and people new? If on the other end, people do all the things that are new to keep up with the times, then, just as the so-called “old education” was new at the old time, how can we know our new education today will be not be old sometime in the future?

2 Huian was Zhu Xi (1130–1200). He was a philosopher and educator in the South Song Dynasty. His courtesy name was Yuanhui and his pseudonym was Huian. 3 Yangming was Wang Shouren. 4 Qianzi was Qian Youtong. He was a philosopher at the same time as Wang Shouren.

chapter 13

Utilitarianism and Professional Education1 Ever since our Institute2 stated that we would take addressing people’s livelihood problems as our guideline, some scholars have replaced the original words with different wording, based on their wrong understanding, and misinterpreted the purpose of the advocators. The reason for their misinterpretation can mainly be attributed to their failure to understand the scope of “livelihood.” Because of this, some scholars broaden its scope to “life,” whereas others narrow its scope to “food and clothing.” As a result, a lot of disputes have arisen. Debates centering on the disputes have continued and no consensus has been reached. As a consequence, not only have our opponents made arguments against us, but educators are also left at loose ends. The present state of affairs has stood in the way of the development of vocational education. Confucius said, “If the name is not right, the words will not ring true; and if the words do not ring true, then nothing will be accomplished.” Likewise, if achievements are to be accomplished in vocational education, a proper principle must be determined at the very beginning. Now that the prospect of vocational education depends on a proper principle, then what is the proper principle for it? Should it be the principle of life? Or should it be the principle of food and clothing? Or is there any other principle apart from these two principles? “The principle of life” is all inclusive. It encompasses all needs in life. Its scope is as broad as that of education. When we talk about vocation, there is vocational education; when we refer to recreational life, there is recreational education; when social life is concerned, there is social education; and when natural life is referred to, there is natural education. Vocational education is one of the four types of education, just as vocation is one of the four aspects of life. In other words, life is a whole, and vocation is part of it; education is a whole, and vocational education is part of it. If the purpose of education as a whole is seen as equal to the specific purpose of vocational education, then how can we distinguish the purpose of vocational education from that of education as a whole and the purposes of other types of education? By the same token, a specific aspect of life should not be seen as equal to life as a whole. Thus, it can be seen that the “principle of life” is not a suitable principle for 1 This article was originally published in Education and Vocation 1 (3) January 15, 1918. 2 Our “Institute” refers to the Chinese Vocational Education Institute.

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vocational education. Then what about the principle of food and clothing? In general, there are four major sources of food and clothing: work, inheritance, begging, and stealing. If the principle of food and clothing is taken as the principle of vocational education, aren’t neets (Not in Education, Employment, or Training), beggars, and thieves following the same principle? According to this logic, those who have taught neets, beggars, and thieves will declare themselves to be vocational educators. Obviously, this is not grounded in truth. This is the first reason why the principle of food and clothing cannot be used as the principle of vocational education. Apart from this, if the principle of food and clothing is taken as the principle of vocational education, then those with abundant food and clothing will not have to receive education. This is the second reason why the principle of food and clothing cannot be used as the principle of vocational education. Moreover, if the need for food and clothing is seen as the purpose of vocational education, then all educational programs will be carried out for the sole purpose of achieving subsistence. This is no different from giving alms. Back to ancient times, Mo Di turned around his carriage at the sight of Zhaoge,3 whereas Zeng Zi never set foot in Shengmuli.4 If schools follow the principle of giving alms, then those with moral integrity will be discouraged from attending schools. This is the third reason why the principle of food and clothing cannot be used as the principle of vocational education. The purpose of any principle is to provide guidance for people working to achieve their causes. If what is labeled as principle cannot guide people to find concrete solutions, then what value does it have? Therefore, when we decide whether the principle of food and clothing can serve as the principle of vocational education, we should look at whether it is of any help to approaches of vocational education. In schools, there must be teachers. How can we use food and clothing as the criterion for choosing teachers for vocational education? In schools, there must be facilities. How can we use food and clothing as the criterion for arranging teaching facilities? How can we use food and clothing as the criterion for admitting students? And how can we use food and clothing as the criterion for determining courses? Seen from this 3 Zhaoge was the capital city of Shang Dynasty. It was the place where King Zhou of Shang sought his pleasure. Unhappy about what King Zhou did, Mo Di turned around his carriage the moment Zhaoge was in sight. This story is written in Shih Chi: Collected Biographies of Lu Zhonglian and Zou Yang. 4 Shengmu was the name of a place in the State of Lu. Zeng Zi was very filial to his mother. He once heard that there was a place called Shengmu Alley in the State of Lu. He thought the name of that alley was ominous for his mother. So he decided to never set foot in that alley. This story is written in Shih Chi: Collected Biographies of Lu Zhonglian and Zou Yang.

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perspective, the principle of food and clothing can provide no guidance for vocational education. If it can provide any guidance, then I know not what for. Since the principle of food and clothing cannot provide any guidance for vocational education, then it is understandable that it should not be chosen as the principle of vocational education. This is the fourth reason why the principle of food and clothing cannot be used as the principle of vocational education. The reason a person does anything can be material or spiritual. People who aim to get food and clothing act for a material purpose, whereas people who love what they do work for a spiritual purpose. If a person with abundant food and clothing does not love what he does, even though he may appear to be free from cold and hunger on the outside, he cannot get rid of the suffering on the inside. Those who regard the principle of food and clothing as the principle of vocational education must have neglected the importance of enthusiasm in vocation. This is the fifth reason why the principle of food and clothing cannot be used as the principle of vocational education. Furthermore, if vocational education follows the principle of food and clothing, then teachers will teach for food and clothing and students will study for food and clothing. By and by, they will unconsciously become selfish. Americans regard vocational education and learning to earn to be of the same kind of education. People of insight, such as Mr. Dewey, thought of this idea of becoming selfish and wrote to justify vocational education. Now our country is poverty-stricken, citizens are so desperate for food and clothing that these objects have become commonplace words on their lips. Under such circumstances, some school operators add fuel to the flame. I’m deeply afraid that citizens will go out of control once they fail to resist the temptation of having their selfish needs satisfied. This is the sixth reason why the principle of food and clothing cannot be used as the principle of vocational education. Thus, it can be seen that the principle of food and clothing is where all drawbacks lie. If we are to believe that vocational ­education has advantages instead of disadvantages, then we have no choice but to abandon the principle of food and clothing all together. Since the principle of food and clothing is flawed with problems and the principle of life is too general, neither of them can be chosen as the principle of vocational education. Then what should serve as the justified principle of vocational education? It can be said that where the function of vocational education lies is where the principle of vocational education lies. Since vocation is intended to produce profits, vocational education should follow the principle of producing profits. There are two kinds of profits to be produced. The first kind refers to objects that can deliver profits, such as agricultural products and machines; the second kind refers to things that can generate profits, such as commercial transactions and treatment of diseases by doctors. The first kind

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produces benefits for the general public by producing objects, whereas the latter one does so by facilitating operations. Although the products are different, they are both aimed at producing profits for the general public. Therefore, anyone who can produce profits can be counted as a member of the vocational circle; and anyone unable to do so cannot. For the same reason, any form of education that can cultivate in people the ability produce profits should belong to vocational education; and any form of education that cannot cultivate this ability in people should not be considered vocational education. The profit-producing principle bears several characteristics. First, since the profitproducing principle serves a vocational purpose, it should be regarded as the special purpose of vocational education. It is not as broad as the principle of life. Second, no drawbacks can be found, especially when the profit-producing principle is compared with the principle of food and clothing. Therefore, if the profit-producing principle is followed, then neets, beggars, and thieves who also produce profits and teachers of neets, beggars, and thieves should all be excluded from vocational education. Third, since schools follow the principle of producing profits, then those with ample food and clothing but that are unable to produce profits cannot find a place in schools. Fourth, no parents would wish their children to be unable to produce profits. If vocational education takes producing profits as its principle, then its nature will be distinguished from giving alms. Thus, those who endorse this principle will be busy urging their children to attend schools. How can they find the time to impose resistance instead? Fifth, since vocation is aimed at producing profits, then the ways to produce profits can serve as guidelines for approaches of vocational education as long as we follow the profit-producing principle in running vocational education. Sixth, vocational education takes the cultivation of people capable of producing profits as its principle, then it underlines the various procedures in producing profits. Its ultimate goal would be to enable everyone to love their work while producing profits so that they don’t have to toil and moil. Seventh, the profit-producing principle underlines the importance of utilizing one’s inner force to meet the needs of the public. Its manifestation is exactly opposite that of the principle of food and clothing. When people are producing objects or things, they must ask themselves questions, “Can I produce the wanted products?” and “Can the products I produce deliver profits to the public?” By asking themselves these questions, teachers and students will unconsciously develop a sense of bringing benefits to the public. What’s more, people who can produce profits will be able to obtain a certain form of happiness in life; and they will also be able to enjoy ample food and clothing. Those who cannot produce profits will find it difficult to enjoy wealth and honor in the long-term, even if they have wealth and honor now. Therefore, one should think about whether

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they can produce profits instead of whether they can enjoy subsistence and happiness. To sum up, the profit-producing principle is neither as general as the principle of life nor fraught with all the problems of the principle of food and clothing. Besides, it boasts all the strengths of the two principles. Thus, how can it not be the justified principle of vocational education? Since vocational education based on the profit-producing principle is aimed at cultivating people who can produce profits, then teachers of vocational education must possess the ability to produce profits themselves. One must be established before seeking to establish others, and one must be developed before seeking to develop others. There is not a single person in the world who can teach others to produce profits while he himself has no experience in producing profits. For example, in ancient days, a man named Pan Chi asked Confucius to teach him farming. Confucius answered, “I am not as good as an experienced farmer.” Then he asked Confucius to teach him gardening instead. Confucius replied, “I am not as good as an experienced gardener.” Why did Confucius refuse to teach him? The reason is that everyone has his/her own specialty. Just as Confucius is not as good as an experienced farmer or an experienced gardener, experienced farmers and experienced gardeners do not know six classical arts as Confucius did. In a similar fashion, those who have no experience treating patients cannot teach others to do so; those who have no experience in trade are not qualified to teach commerce. The same is true with every vocation. Therefore, the first and foremost business of vocational teachers is to acquire experience in producing profits. Teachers without experience in producing profits are no better than pure scholars. They are not the vocational teachers I am talking about. However, vocational teachers are responsible for not only cultivating profit-producing people but also improving the produced objects and things. In order to improve objects and things, they must possess knowledge about producing profits apart from experience. Teachers who have no knowledge in guiding experiences are bound to be self-contained and unwilling to make an attempt at progress. The reason why the agriculture in our country has not been improved for thousands of years is that it has been managed by those who have experience but no knowledge in this regard. Therefore, the second most important thing for vocational teachers is to acquire knowledge for producing profits. Those with experience and knowledge in producing profits are not yet able to fulfill all the responsibilities vocational teachers are supposed to fulfill. The didactics for teaching others to produce profits varies from vocation to vocation. Some are suitable for learning theories before practice, some are suitable for getting practice before learning theories, and others are suitable for

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learning theories and getting practice at the same time. Vocational teachers must take the mentality of students into consideration and get familiar with the nature of textbooks so as to make sure that students learn what they teach and achieve twice the result with half the effort. Therefore, the third most important thing for vocational teachers is to be equipped with the right didactics for teaching others to produce profits. According to the aforementioned aspects, a perfect vocational teacher should be able to meet three standards, namely, experience, academic knowledge, and didactics. If they cannot meet all three standards, then didactics and academic knowledge should give way to experience. Because teachers who have experience but no didactics or academic knowledge are still able to produce profits themselves, even though they do not have a sound approach for making progress, students can still produce objects and things by imitating them. As long as students can learn to produce objects and things, the purpose of vocational education will not go amiss. If vocational teachers have no experience, then their didactics will not be precise. Even though they have rich academic knowledge, they will still be unable to teach students to produce profits. If profits cannot be produced, then the purpose of vocational education has failed. To sum up, experience, academic knowledge, and didactics are all important criteria for vocational teachers. But among them, experience is the most important one. Since profit-producing experience is the essential qualification for vocational teachers, then vocational teachers must be selected from the outstanding candidates in the vocational circle. Since you are from the vocational circle, you not only have vocational experience but also take delight in what you are doing. As long as you master didactics, you will certainly become qualified talent. Thus, it is not only easier to recruit vocational teachers from ordinary students but also faster to yield better results. Now that we have established that experience, academic knowledge, and didactics are the three qualifications for vocational teachers, how to cultivate teachers with such qualifications is one of the topics I have to study. In general, there are three ways to cultivate vocational teachers. First, enroll ordinary students and teach them relevant experience, academic knowledge, and didactics; second, enroll outstanding candidates in the vocational circle and teach them academic knowledge and didactics; third, employ professional scholars and experienced vocational workers to practice teaching in the same classroom so as to enable them to complement each other as vocational teachers. The amount of experience needed varies from vocation to vocation. The first way applies to vocations that require relatively less experience. For example, teachers with two to three years of teaching experience in regular normal

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schools will suffice for the teaching of this purpose. Therefore, it will be very easy to enroll students and train them to be such teachers. Besides, this way also applies to teachers in commercial schools. However, vocational teachers teaching agriculture and industry are of a starkly different nature. If they are not rich in profit-producing experience, they will not be qualified to teach students to produce profits. In this case, it seems better if the second way is chosen, as it is easier than the first way. In other words, outstanding workers in the vocational circle should be selected and cultivated. As they come from the vocational circle, they must have experience in this regard. What we need to do is to teach them academic knowledge and didactics. Nevertheless, success of this way depends on the popularization of middle school education. In European and American countries where education is popularized, most people in the vocational circle have received public education. Since they have basic common knowledge and education, it is easy for them to acquire and master academic knowledge and didactics. However, this is not the case in China, where access to education is not prevalent, and most farmers and workers are illiterate. Since they are not able to read, there are bound to be various difficulties in teaching them academic knowledge and didactics. Nevertheless, outstanding performers in the vocational circle who are roughly literate are not hard to come by. If those responsible for cultivating vocational teachers apply discretion in recruiting candidates, then a galaxy of promising candidates can be selected. The third way is to employ professional scholars and experienced vocational workers to practice teaching in the same classroom. Nowadays, vocational teachers are in short supply. Candidates for vocational teachers either possess academic knowledge but no experience or have experience but no academic knowledge. A quick solution to this problem can be to have scholars and experienced vocational workers work together in the same place. In that case, they can practice teaching together and complement each other. By and by, the potential talents today will form a group of strong qualified teachers. Isn’t this a strategy that kills two birds with one stone? Despite this, it costs a lot to have two teachers teaching in one class. Besides, what’s valuable is to have academic knowledge and experience integrated. If the two qualities are possessed by two separate persons, in the end, there is bound to be a lack of mutual understanding. Therefore, although this way has its advantages, it can only be regarded as a temporary expediency during the transitional period. Above all, profit-producing experience is the most important quality for vocational teachers to have. On this basis, they will be able to draw from their experience the approaches that will cultivate profit-producing ability. With the gradual increase of experience, twice the result will be yielded with half the effort.

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Vocational Facilities of the Profit-Producing Principle

Confucius said, “When a workman wishes to get his work done well, he must have his tools sharpened first.” I have never heard of anyone who is able to do his work well without effective tools. The same is true with vocational education. All kinds of facilities must be available so as to meet the needs of any vocation. Only after this can teachers and students be engaged in producing profits. Otherwise, even though we have competent teachers and good students, bricks still cannot be made without straw. Therefore, farmers cannot be taught without farm machinery and implements; workers cannot be taught without industrial applications; doctors cannot be well trained without knives; and painters cannot be properly trained without painting materials. In other words, if profit-producing facilities are in place, vocational education can be carried out; if profit-producing facilities are not in place, vocational education cannot be carried out. However, there are two kinds of profit-producing facilities in vocational schools: the first refers to facilities owned by teachers themselves; and the second refers to facilities in the vocational circle. But no matter whether the facilities are privately owned or publically owned, students and teachers must be able to use them to produce profits for their own sake. Thus, although facilities may be either privately owned or publically owned, they are all meant to enable students and teachers to generate profits. Once I travelled to Massachusetts in the United States and saw that most of the agricultural departments of the local village middle school required students to do internships from their own houses by utilizing their own farm facilities. Those initiatives were called Home Projects. Teachers drove to oversee the Home Projects and give on-site instructions. During the slack season, students were required to go to school to learn general academic knowledge. Therefore, apart from some staff for decoration, there were very few facilities in schools; whereas outside schools, facilities could be found anywhere students had set their feet. As to the effect of this practice, not only was the budget for special facilities saved but also the agriculture in each house was indirectly improved by the hands of students. This is a typical example of making use of others’ profitproducing facilities to carry out vocational education. 2

Utilitarianism—Professional Development Courses

Each course in vocational schools should be focused on one topic and one topic only, from beginning to the end. For example, if the course is about growing beans, then all necessary bean-growing steps should be included. Every

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course should be composed of both theories and practice, which are to be closely bound. In this way, at the end of each course, students will have already learned one thing. On this basis, a second course or a more difficult course can be taught. When all set courses are finished one by one, a student will reach graduation. The curriculum shall be set su h that each course is a profit-making unit. In other words, if a student finishes one course, he/she can make one unit of profit; if a student finishes a hundred courses, he/she will have made a hundred units of profit. In this fashion, he can live up to all the vocational courses he has learned. Since the main purpose of learning vocational courses is to make profit, the teaching has to be specific enough to thoroughly cover one topic. And to make that happen, the size of the class has to be small. Each European and American vocational class is usually composed of less than fifteen people. The small size is designed to serve the purpose of profit-making lecturing. Not only shall each course be designed to enable students to make profit out of the skills acquired, the relations among different courses shall also be toward this end. In the past, there was a man who learned silkworm farming. Every year, he could only make profit for two to three months. The rest of the time, he just idled around and lived on the limited money he had made. After just a few years, he became too poor to continue like this and had to change his career. This is because the skill or course he had learned was able to help him make profit but not in a sufficient way. So when setting a vocational curriculum, one shall take profit-making as the core principle, while also integrating related profit-making skills and possible working skills as subsidiary courses. If other than the main business, one can also take care of some other side business during one’s spare time, then no time will go waste, thus, maximizing profit-making opportunities. If the curriculum is designed in accordance with this principle, then it would be a well-designed curriculum that embodies sufficient profit-making needs. 3 Utilitarianism—Students Does it mean that with teachers, equipment, and a proper curriculum under the profit-making principle, vocational education can be adequately carried out? No! If students choose a wrong subject or a wrong course, they cannot concentrate on their studies. And after graduation, what they do will also fail to conform with the majors they chose in school. The obvious drawback of this is that those who major in agriculture do not work in the agricultural sector, and those who study business do not work in the business field. This is another factor that contributes to poor industrial education in our country,

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besides nonprofit-making teachers, equipment, and curriculum. The standard of choosing a major should be based on not whether it fits a student or not but whether it fits the student best. What does it mean by fitting the student best? There are two parameters: capability and interest. If one has both the most suitable capability for a certain major and also a strong interest, this major can be counted as the most suitable one. Only when a student studies the major that fits him best can he really make it into a career. His interest in his major can bring him continued happiness while working and learning. He will take learning-related courses as a habit and apply what he has learned in the right manner. In this way, everyone receives infinite benefits. So if one chooses and learns the major that suits him best, producing major profits would be anything but difficult. However, if one chooses the wrong major, even though he has attended profit-making courses, it is still uncertain whether he can make money or not in the future. So, if we want to enable students to choose the right major, careful selection must be applied. Then what’s the way of careful selection? Nothing but the vocational trial course. This vocational trail course covers agriculture, industry, business, and other important fields. All students shall try them out first. Time spent on this trail course depends on the student himself. It could be as long as half a year or as short as several weeks. This trail course reflects everything about the actual work life so that students can find out what they truly want to learn. Otherwise, it will be meaningless. While taking this trail course, students can have a taste of all these fields so that they can choose one that attracts them most. Only when what a student chooses is what he/she likes can he/she be focused on learning and enjoy working. The possible profit made in this way is beyond measurement. In conclusion, if vocational schools are equipped with teachers, facilities, and courses under the profit-producing principle, then the right conditions for teaching are in place; if students take an interest in learning to produce profits, then the right condition for learning is in place. The former can enable teachers to teach how to produce profits, whereas the latter can enable students to learn how to produce profits. When both teaching and learning are in the right place, every profit-producing person cultivated by the state will serve the interests of the state. By and by, there will be no vagrant in the country; no talent will go waste; the needs of all people will be met; and the individuality of every person will be expressed. On this basis, if we apply a proper division of profits, then wealth will be equally distributed and all people can have their needs met. These are what I mean by the principle and responsibilities of vocational education. I hope that educators will bear these in mind in carrying out vocational education. So much so for my own understanding. I hope it will be of some contribution to you. Your valuable opinions will be appreciated.

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On Developing Teachers’ Education System in China1 What should be taught? How should teachers teach? Who should be taught? Who should teach? These are the basic questions facing the development of normal schools. If normal schools are to thrive, we should first of all find the right answers to these questions. The first question normal schools should ask is: what should be taught? This has to do with textbooks. Teachers cannot create something out of nothing. They must make use of what’s available in the environment to initiate activities among students. Therefore, when we are faced with the question of “what should be taught,” we can answer it tentatively: students learn what’s available for them to learn, teachers teach what students are to learn, and teachers are trained with what they are supposed to teach. However, things in the world are too many to count, and not all of them are needed. Therefore, we still need to further modify our answer: students learn what they need to learn, teachers teach what students need to learn, and teachers are trained with what they are supposed to teach. When what’s available and what’s needed are already known, teaching methods become our immediate concern. We should continue to ask ourselves: how should teachers teach? Ways of teaching should be based on ways of learning, and ways of learning should be based on ways of doing. Ways of teaching, ways of learning, and ways of doing should form an integrated chain. Thus, our suggested answer to the second question is: learning methods should be based on how things are done, teaching methods should be based on how students learn, and teachers should be trained according to how they are supposed to teach. What should be taught and how teachers should teach can by no means be determined without grounds. Both of the two questions have to do with “people.” In other words, we have to ask: who should be taught? The content, methods, proportion, and order of teaching vary from person to person. We must first of all get to know what a student needs for building his/her capacity during the entire process of his/her development. Then we can continue to 1 This article was originally published in New Educational Review 3(1) December 1926.

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find out what a student should be taught and how he/she should be taught; only after this can we know how to train the student’s teacher. What kind of people are those prepared to be teachers? How much are they interested or talented in being vocational teachers? How capable are they in terms of teaching? Will they be able to have a good time being teachers of a certain kind? Who are those that are actually teaching? How many trainees taught by them are expected by normal schools to become good teachers? These are also some of the questions that need to be considered by normal schools. Our suggestion is that we should train those who are teaching, those who have an interest in teaching, and those who are good at teaching. According to what is mentioned above, in general, normal schools make use of what is available and what is needed in the environment and place it in the context of a specific center school. Then, based on the principle of integrating practice, learning, and teaching, normal schools train people with special interests and capabilities to enable them to guide students to enjoy what’s available in the environment and meet the needs of the environment, while staying in line with students’ needs to build up their competency. This definition encompasses three parts: the first is the basic work of normal schools, the second is the work of the specific center school, and the third is the life of children in the environment. These three parts should form an organic whole so that they not only are interconnected but also share the same spirit. There should not be even the slightest discordance among them. At the sight of this definition, we immediately know that the purpose of normal schools is to popularize education in the center school, and the purpose of the center school is to promise a better life for its students. Hence, we can have a sound understanding of the whole process of the development of pedagogical education. As the lives of local children are the focus of attention in center schools, we must first of all develop a sound understanding of them. We must be aware of what capabilities children should possess and what they need to promote their growth. Although we are not able to know them completely, we must at least be aware of what scholars have already found out through research. Children are not isolated beings. They are individuals in the environment. The environment exerts two major forces on the life of children. The first force is assistance. Under normal conditions, light, air, food, and drink are things that facilitate people’s growth. Additionally, language, characters, truth, insight, and mutual assistance between people can also help us grow. The second force is resistance. For example, wild wind, rainstorms, floods, droughts, and insect infestations all stand in the way of people’s growth. In the social aspect, greedy officials, corrupt officials, evil gentries, native ruffians, and thieves all pose resistance to people’s growth.

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All bad social institutions and customs also pose resistance to our growth. Despite this, if the resistance is not too strong, it can be transformed into assistance. Adverse circumstances force people to make arduous efforts. Only when difficulties arise along the way can we trigger our innovation and make efforts toward progress. This is the way human brains develop and how civilization evolves. We should make use of both assistance and resistance in nature and society to educate children so as to enable them to be whole persons with the ability to conquer nature and reform society. Therefore, we should again ask what assistance and resistance nature and society will bring us. What contribution can these forces of assistance and resistance make to the growth of children? What deficiencies do they have that we need to make up for? The assistance, resistance, contributions, and deficiencies an environment brings to children should all be analyzed in detail so as to provide guidance to the implementation of education. It will be of no use to read or lap up information without a thorough understanding. Otherwise, analyses of specific facts will be too general for schools to completely adopt. Therefore, a further step should be taken to estimate the value of each fact. Choices should be made after the estimation of value. To be specific, those with the lowest value, those that are not in urgent need, those unnecessary to teach, and those unable to be taught should all be excluded from the curriculum. What’s left should be integrated into textbooks and made into courses. Then necessary facilities and procedures should be provided so as to enable teachers to guide students to learn and practice in a down-to-earth manner. In this way, the establishment of the center school can be completed. This kind of school takes roots in the environment, from which it absorbs fertilizer and sunlight to nurture its own life. Therefore, it is able to sprout, grow leaves, blossom, and bear fruit. This kind of school is integrated into natural life and social life. It is able to accommodate life in the environment, on the one hand, and transform it, on the other hand. It grows out of the local soil and thus certainly has the ability to thrive in similar environments. We can congratulate it by saying: “Wish you longevity, prosperity, and fertility. Generations and generations to come are to follow your steps. All of them will be as great as, or even greater than you.” After the center school is developed, attention should be paid to the development of normal schools. The mission of normal schools is to make use of the spirit and approaches of the center school to train teaching staff. They should also be integrated into, and consistent with, center schools. Center schools are the core instead of subsidiary products of normal schools. The center school should not view itself as a subsidiary product. To give a proper name to the “center school” based on its definition, the name “subsidiary school” can by no means be chosen. The name “practice school” is much better, but it bears the implication of “separation

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of theories and practice.” Thus it is not the best option. All courses in normal schools are aimed at serving the core purpose of each major. Most of the purposes should be in line with those of center schools. For example, if courses such as pedagogy and psychology are reduced to subsidiary courses, they can by no means make a big difference to students. Instead, courses of this nature should be taught with hands-on instruction. Most of them should be guided by science experiments so as to achieve integration of teaching, learning, and practice. While carrying out education in normal schools, we should also take into consideration the capabilities students already have and the capabilities they need to develop. Because the school environment after students graduate from normal schools is bound to be operated differently from the environment of center schools. If we want graduates from normal schools to make contributions to the new environment, we must endow them with the ability to act according to circumstances. After graduates of normal schools have mastered the effective measures of the center school and the ability to act according to circumstances, they will be able to run schools in a different environment. The spirit of these schools should be consistent with that of the center school. Yet it is not stereotypical, nor does it copy the model of the center school mechanically. It must be able to adjust to, and transform, the specific environment. This school should instill and nurture vitality in students. Its aim is to cultivate their vitality. Strengthened vitality can enable students to enjoy better health, guard against disease, overcome difficulties, solve problems, and assume responsibilities. Schools must endow students with a form of vitality that can enable them to conquer nature and reform society either single-handedly or collectively. The steps we recommend here should all be completed in one stretch: the natural life and social life produce vital center schools, vital center schools form vital normal schools, vital normal schools train vital teachers, and vital teachers cultivate vital citizens. The development process is interconnected and consistent from beginning to end. If any disconnection, discordance, or maladjustment is noticed, corrections can be made at any time based on mutual reference. Therefore, center schools can be continuously improved through the progression of natural life and social life; normal schools can continuously develop with the improvement of center schools; local schools can continuously evolve with the improvement of normal schools; and finally, natural life and social life will continue to upgrade with the improvement of local schools. The above-mentioned development process of pedagogical education can be even more clearly illustrated in the following map:

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On Developing Teachers’ Education System in China

Three

The Map of Developing a Teachers’ Education System in China2

Descriptions: Children’s life in nature and society is the focus of center schools. The center school is the focus of normal schools. One, Two, Three, Four, Five refer to the schools run by graduates from ­normal schools. 2 When the article was published in New Educational Review, the editor left out this map. The author reincluded it in the collected works entitled Reform of China’s Education. As Mr. Dai Botao recalled, Tao Xingzhi drew a rural normal education construction map with a piece of white cloth. At the center of the map was a circle in which “vital normal school” was written. Connected to it in its peripheral were several circles where “vital center school” were written. From each center school many tentacles stretched out where “actual life” was written. The meaning of the map was as plain as daylight.

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Vitality represents students cultivated in schools run by graduates from normal schools. An outer circle can be added to “normal school” to represent advanced normal colleges and normal universities that train junior teachers in normal schools. The rest can be done in the same manner. Since normal schools take center schools as their core, the types of center schools determine the types of normal schools: if kindergartens are center schools, kindergarten normal schools can be established; if primary schools are center schools, junior normal schools can be run; if middle schools or normal schools are center schools, advanced normal colleges or normal universities can be set up; and if various kinds of vocational authorities or schools are center schools, then various kinds of vocational normal schools can be set up. Since normal schools take center schools as their core, the former has to evolve around the latter. Wherever there is a good center school, a normal school can be set up; wherever no good center school can be found, normal schools can be abandoned. Otherwise, the relationships between normal schools and various other aspects should be fundamentally transformed so as to make sure that normal schools live up to their reputation. The number of students does not need to be fixed. Instead, it can vary according to the capacity of the center school. In other words, the number of students should be determined according to how many students the center school can accommodate. No strict requirement on the number of students shall be imposed. A normal school can have several center schools, and one center school can be the shared center of several normal schools. For example, one rural normal school can have several single-grade schools and several multi-grade schools as its center schools. For another example, a good center primary school can accommodate normal school students at the junior high school, senior high school, or even undergraduate level who want to study there. Students at the junior high school level can become teachers in lower primary schools after graduating from here; students at the senior high school level can suffice to teach in higher primary schools after graduating from here; students at the undergraduate level can run junior normal schools or county-level normal schools after graduating from here. There are two ways to establish center schools. The first is to start from scratch, and the second is to transform those schools characterized by careful research, dedication in work, and notable achievements into center schools. These two ways can be applied according to deliberation based on actual situation. When center schools are established, teacher-training classes and normal schools can be opened in the vicinity of center schools or in rented houses. Two approaches can be chosen to recruit normal school students. The first is

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to recruit new students and provide them with full training. This approach covers a wide range and needs to be backed up with abundant human resources, adequate equipment, and a sufficient budget. The second approach is to recruit graduates-to-be from other schools who aspire to become teachers or present teachers with certain teaching experience and provide them with sufficient training. According to the latter approach, normal schools can be set up only with dormitories, books, discussion rooms, and facilities needed for training teachers. This is a relatively easy approach. Certificates are awarded to students upon graduation. Once the school is developed into a school with vitality, graduates will be awarded diplomas. If the original school where students are awarded certificates of completion is not equipped with teachertraining courses, relevant procedures should be followed to recommend promising students to study in the school with vitality. In this case, diplomas can be issued by the two schools together. All these measures can be applied to normal schools at all levels. The above are the fundamental principles and a summary of implementation for developing China’s pedagogical education. Due to wrong policies for developing China’s pedagogical education adopted during the former period of the Qing Dynasty, normal schools became isolated from subsidiary schools, and subsidiary schools came to be isolated from actual life. The reason for the isolation is that the pedagogical education in our country is either a product of daydreaming or imported from foreign countries. It is not developed out of our own experience. If we do not fundamentally reform this pedagogical educational system, the direct consequence may be listless teachers, and the indirect consequence may be listless citizens. Vital citizens need to be cultivated by vital teachers, and vital teachers need to be trained in vital normal schools. Therefore, the most urgent questions confronting China’s education today are how to transform the old pedagogical education and how to develop the new pedagogical education. We should not neglect the pedagogical education on which the future of our country depends. We sincerely hope that comrades across the country will pool their wisdom to address this issue.

chapter 15

On Developing Early Childhood Education in Rural China1 Since Friedrich Fröbel created the concept of the “kindergarten,” people have gradually come to realize the importance of early childhood education; since Montessori devoted his whole life to studying early childhood education, people have gradually become aware of the efficacy of kindergartens; since primary schools started to pay attention to the distinctions between the students who come directly from families and those who come from kindergartens, people have gradually come to acknowledge that early childhood education is indeed the foundation for life, which must be built solidly and as early as possible. Scholars who study children have told us that any important habit, tendency, and attitude needed for life can be successfully fostered before the age of six. In other words, the period before six is an important one for the formation of personality. If the formation of personality during this period is well under way, then what is needed in the future is to just follow the track until the child finally becomes an elite in society; if the formation of personality is failed, then old habits die hard, built-in tendencies will be difficult to alter, and determined attitudes will be hard to change. If children of the latter sort continue their study in school, teachers will have to make Herculean efforts to correct their bad habits, bad tendencies, and bad attitudes. It is no different from getting half the result with twice the effort. As to those irresponsible teachers, they will by no means bother to take any measures. Instead, they will just stand by and let things run their own course. Even if they occasionally see with their own eyes that a certain student is doing wrong, they will, at most, give the child a negative punishment. As a result, the inevitable consequence is that bad habits, bad tendencies, and bad attitudes are allowed to gradually thrive until harm is caused on both the child himself and others. Seeing this, those who aspire to bring happiness to children and those who aspire to reform society begin to feverishly advocate the widespread establishment of kindergartens. However, though the voices shouting for the establishment of kindergartens are nearly hoarse, the responses are as scarce as morning stars. In cities, there are a few kindergartens for window-dressing. But in the countryside, no sign of kindergarten can be found. Undoubtedly, 1 This article was originally published in New Educational Review 2(22) October 29, 1926.

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according to the present situation, if fundamental reforms of kindergartens are not carried out, not only will it be impossible to set up kindergartens in the countryside, but it will also be difficult to popularize kindergartens in cities. In my opinion, domestic kindergartens are plagued by three major drawbacks. The first drawback is blind worship of foreign things. Just pay a visit to the so-called kindergartens of today. Is there anything not foreign? To be specific, the pianos played in kindergartens are foreign pianos, the songs sung by kindergarten students are foreign songs, the stories told to kindergarten students are foreign stories, the toys played with by kindergarten students are foreign toys, and even the food eaten by kindergarten students is foreign. In other words, kindergartens in China have almost become a market for foreign goods. Teachers have become dealers of these foreign goods, and poor children have become their customers. The second drawback is the huge cost. It costs a lot of money to attend kindergarten in China. Sometimes the cost is several times more than what’s needed to attend primary schools. It is no wonder that foreign goods are by no means cheap. Since all things are modeled after foreign goods, the cost is bound to be high. And since the cost is high, it is undoubtedly hard to popularize these kindergartens. The third drawback is exclusive access for the rich. Since the establishment of kindergartens costs a lot, a lot of money must be pulled in. As a result, tuitions have to be high. When tuitions are high, only children from rich families can afford to enjoy what kindergartens have to offer. Therefore, kindergartens are only enjoyed by rich families, whereas the common people are denied access. The rural kindergartens we are now dedicated to establishing aim to get rid of these three drawbacks. We are determined to transform foreign-style kindergartens into Chinese kindergartens, costly kindergartens into economical kindergartens, and kindergartens for the rich into kindergartens for common people. 1.

2.

Establish Chinese kindergartens. Here we should go all out to make sure that early childhood education is in line with national conditions and avoid parochial nationalism. We must fully utilize the available music, poetry, stories, toys, and things in nature to mold children’s character. Foreign materials that are universal and permanent can also be drawn upon, after careful selection, but the majority of teaching materials should come from domestic sources. Establish economical kindergartens. Stopping the worship of foreign things is the first way to save money. The second way is to train teachers in the local village to teach local children. In each village, there must be one or two intelligent and virtuous women. We hope that they can

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become teachers in rural kindergartens after receiving proper training. In this way, not only can they gain a new career choice, but the cost of kindergartens can also be kept no higher than that in regular primary schools. Isn’t this a solution that kills two birds with one stone? Among these women, those who can make the biggest contribution, and should thus receive training in the first place, are the wives and sisters of rural teachers and school principals, as well as senior female students. After they have received training, kindergartens can be set up as long as there are people to advocate it. The third way is to use manual workers and craftsmen in primary schools of the local village to make copies of toys. In this way, the money spent on one toy can be reused multiple times. If the aforementioned three ways are implemented simultaneously, the establishment of economical kindergartens can be realized. Establish kindergartens for common people. If kindergartens watch every penny, they will certainly be upright and incorruptible in collecting fees. Thus, children from ordinary families will be able to enjoy equal opportunities. If teachers come from local villages, they are already used to life in the village and will thus be easily approachable. These two things can establish a close bond between kindergartens and common people. Nevertheless, whether an institution can serve the interests of common people depends on whether it can meet the needs of common people. According to our observations, rural kindergartens are indeed a regular and permanent need for farmers. Let’s take a look at rural life. During the busy season, housewives are even busier than usual. They have to boil more hot water, cook more dishes, and wash more clothes. Sometimes, they also have to work in the field. How can they find the time to take care of children? In the meantime, older brothers and sisters are also busy delivering meals, carrying water, keeping an eye on the cattle, and making straw sandals. Not one of them is able to spare time to play with their little brothers and sisters. As a result, during the busy season, children in the village either follow their seniors or are left unattended, as if they are a huge burden. If rural kindergartens are run properly, children can be sent to kindergarten to be taken care of. Thus, on the one hand, parents can be free from the burden of supervising them; and on the other hand, children can have fun playing in kindergartens. Isn’t this an ideal situation where each gets his due? Since primary school students are older, they are able to give their parents a hand in doing farm work. Allowing them to attend schools is no different from impairing the earning capacity of farmers. In other words, it is next to impossible to do so. Yet, it is different with kindergarten-age children. The children that kindergartens

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recruit are exactly the burden farmers wish to unload. Sending children to kindergarten is equivalent to providing farmers with a convenience. If run properly, rural kindergartens can be popularized ahead of primary schools. Since kindergartens cater to the needs of common people, they can certainly be fully popularized among these people. What we need to do is but to remove obstacles so as to enable the early realization of this vision. Establishment of a Chinese and economical rural kindergarten for common people cannot be achieved overnight. Instead, we must do experiments and build kindergartens using scientific methods, we must get to the root of each theory and facility for establishing kindergartens, and we must make sure that each activity carried out in kindergartens serves a justified purpose. Besides, we should use scientific methods to build an economic rural kindergarten that is both for common people and in line with national conditions. By doing so, comrades across the country will rise up and advocate the establishment of kindergartens in every village so that each and every child can enjoy the happiness of attending kindergarten. That will be even more than what we have been wishing for day and night.

chapter 16

On Developing Experimental Teachers’ Schools in Rural China1 What is a rural teachers’ school? The rural teachers’ school is a place that trains teachers, principals and advisors for rural schools, according to the needs of real rural life. Why do we add “experimental”? China’s rural education has been heading in the wrong direction. It’s ­facing a dead end. So it has to find a new way. “Experimental” means that we use scientific methods to explore a new way out. We have observed some light in front of us. Although we are not certain about it, we are willing to “experiment.” Who is the founder of this school? It’s founded by the China Education Improvement Institute and a few rural educators. Why did the China Education Improvement Institute start to do this? The China Education Improvement Institute has paid attention to rural education for the last three years. It realized recently that rural education is a fundamental issue of the nation. It is estimated that China has one million rural villages. So, one million schools and at least one million teachers are needed. Every village should have at least one school, one good school. To build good schools, we first need good teachers. Some people are born good teachers, while others need some training. Those born talented teachers are extremely rare and hard to meet. Among one million rural teachers, there might be only one hundred born good teachers, while the remaining 999,900 need special training to become good ones. This is a great course to which all comrades in China should contribute effort and money to make it successful. As a part of our country, the China Education Improvement Institute cannot shirk its own responsibility. It has been willing to found this small experimental rural teachers’ school when facing numerous difficulties, so that it can educate good rural teachers, who can run good rural schools. What makes a good rural teacher? A good rural teacher must have peasant’s skills, scientific minds, and the spirit of reforming the society. When he comes to a place, he can make the school lively in the first year. After the second year, he can make the society 1 This article was originally published in China’s Education Reform, April 1928.

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believe in education. After the third year, he can make scientific agriculture effective. Four years later, village self-governance is realized. After the fifth year, he will popularize live education. Ten years later, the barren mountains become forests, and useless people can make some contributions. This kind of rural teacher is the soul that transforms rural life. What makes a good rural school? If a rural school has such good teachers, it will be a good school. A good rural school is the center of the rural life transformation process. Do we have such schools in China now? There are a few rural schools heading in this direction, which deserve our respect. Some rural schools have made significant achievements, such as Yanziji Elementary School, Yaohuamen Elementary School, and Kaiyuan Elementary School. Some recently remolded schools have also made some achievements, such as Jiangning County Normal School, Mingling Elementary School, and Badoushan Elementary School. There must be some schools like these in other places. I’m not familiar with them, so I cannot list all of their names here. After five or ten years’ development, these schools will be able to revitalize these villages and begin a new era. How can these schools be so good? These schools are so successful, because their faculty and staff have talents in running rural schools. Also, they have the spirits of researching and learning with modesty. What would be the relationship between these schools and the experimental rural teachers’ school? Yanziji Elementary School and Yaohuamen Elementary School have been specially invited to become the center elementary schools of the experimental rural teachers’ school, as their locations are close. Other schools will play a supportive role, researching various kinds of topics concerning rural elementary schools, cooperatively. What is the center elementary school? The center elementary school is oriented toward rural real life. It is the center of the experimental rural teachers’ school. The elementary schools attached to teachers’ schools are usually called affiliated elementary schools. We don’t agree with this. Instead of being an appendage, we see the elementary school as an essential part of the experimental rural teachers’ school, so we call it a center elementary school. The center elementary school is the mother of the teachers’ school, not the child. The center elementary school is the sun, while the teachers’ school is its planet. The mission of the teachers’ school is spreading the center elementary school’s spirit, methods, and ability to localize.

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We can understand the reason why the experimental rural teachers’ school should be run according to the center elementary school. However, what method should we use to achieve this? We have the “one whip”2 method, which is the integration of teaching, learning, and practicing. What is the integration of teaching, learning, and practicing? The integration of teaching, learning, and practicing means the teaching method is based on the learning method; and the learning method is based on the practicing method. We learn the way we practice, and we teach the way we learn. For example, we need to do farming in the field. So we should also learn and teach in the field. The teaching, learning, and practicing have a common theme, which is our real life. Teaching should focus on the issues in our life. What’s the difference between the curriculum of an experimental rural teachers’ school and the curriculum of other common schools? The whole curriculum of an experimental rural teachers’ school is the whole of life. There is no after school life, nor class unassociated with life. In general, we have five courses. First, the teaching, learning, and practicing of the center elementary school’s life. Second, the teaching, learning, and practicing of the center elementary school’s administration. Third, the teaching, learning, and practicing of affairs in the teachers’ school’s first institute. Fourth, the teaching, learning, and practicing of conquering the natural environment. Fifth, the teaching, learning, and practicing of changing the social environment. What is the first institute? Our teachers’ school will have two institutes. The first institute will recruit from other schools those students who have one and a half years left before they graduate, or those in-service teachers who have an equivalent education level. They will be trained for one and a half years. The second institute has a complete system of teachers’ education. All training will be done in our school. The first kind is easier to carry out, so we will start with the first institute first. What is the teaching, learning and practicing of institute’s affairs? Students are responsible for all kinds of affairs in the first institute. They will take turns to learn how to do secretary work, accounting, general affairs, cooking, and growing vegetables. The whole school only has one worker to carry water or to do some work like that. Other affairs are all formal courses that the students have to buy themselves. 2 A whip: an economic policy carried out by Zhang Juzheng, who was a political reformer in the Ming Dynasty. He combined all the taxes and corvée into one and collected them according to the acreage of farmlands. The name was used here as a metaphor to represent the integration of teaching, learning, and practicing.

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Why should students of teachers’ school learn how to cook and grow vegetables? Teachers in rural areas would have a rough time if they don’t know how to cook. Some teachers’ school’s students went to rural areas to teach. When they arrived, they usually suffered from hunger, as they didn’t know how to cook. During the old time when students had to take the imperial examinations, most scholars could cook since they had to trek a long journey to take examinations. Nowadays, students value foreign stereotyped writing but refuse to learn practical skills. This is worse than the imperial examinations. So our slogans are, “You are not a true student, if you cannot grow vegetables!” “You cannot graduate, if you don’t know how to cook!” What is the status of the teachers? In our school, teachers are not called teachers, but advisors. They advise the students in the teaching, learning, and practicing. They teach, learn, practice, and live together with the students. In addition to that, students at higher grade levels are responsible to advise those at lower grade levels. What is the qualification for the enrollment of students? Students in junior or senior high schools or vocational colleges must have one and a half years left before graduation. In-service teachers and staff with an equivalent education level can also apply for an entrance examination. But only those who have experience in farm work and construction work will have a good chance to pass the examination. These are the most important qualifications. It’s useless for people without any of these two skills to apply for the school. Young celebrities, pedants, and diploma fans should not bother come. If someone wants to reserve future teachers in advance, in order to found rural elementary schools, they can recommend qualified students. After these students have graduated, they can found rural elementary schools right away. It is the most welcomed way. What subjects will be on the examination? We will test on five subjects. First, operations of farm work or construction work. Second, intelligence tests. Third, general knowledge tests. Fourth, an essay. Fifth, three-minute speeches. How many students will be recruited? The number is limited to twenty, tentatively. If we can raise more funds during these two months, and if there are many qualified students, we will ­probably recruit several more students. If there are fewer students qualified, we will recruit fewer. But we will run our school, as long as there is one qualified student. No matter if we have only one student or one thousand students, we will work in the same high spirits. This is because if this student is a talented person, he/she will definitely make great contributions to rural education.

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One person can be the starting point for thousands and millions of people. We will be satisfied if we are able to recruit only one real student. How long does it take to complete this program? The length of study is tentatively planned as one and a half years. But it’s not fixed. We can adjust the length according to the actual situation. When the students have finished their study, they have to serve for another half year. Their performance will be assessed by observers sent by the school. If they perform well, they will be granted relevant diplomas. How much does the program cost? Students are exempt from tuition fees. The meal plan is tentatively five yuan each month, at most. Teachers and students manage the fund together. Miscellaneous expenses shall be negotiated in accordance with the most economical limit. The students need to do farm work. They rent the fields according to a fair method used by other common tenants. How much they will earn each year, depends on how hard they work and how smart they are in planting. All profits go to the students. And the financial accounts will be disclosed publicly. Where is the rural teachers’ school located? It is located in Maigaoqiao, Nanjing, outside Shencemen. It is close to Yanziji and Yaohuamen. We have prepared 200 mu (about 33 acres) of farmland for teachers and students to cultivate. There will also be several barren mountains for afforestation by teachers and students. Teachers and students will build cottages by themselves and live in them with limited funds. How will those cottages be arranged? Eleven people including ten students and one instructor, share one cottage. There will be a reading room, a reception room, a dining room, and bathrooms. Behind the cottage, a small kitchen will be attached. And there is a small garden behind the kitchen. Before the cottages are built, where do they live? In a tent. Any group who has not finished their cottage, will live in the tent. The eleven people will follow the instructions of the cottage instructor. They have to build the cottage according to the architectural drawing. The cottage should be beautiful, hygienic, reliable, suitable, and cost effective. Everyone should be involved in the construction work. The teachers do not only teach here, and the students do not only study. They come here to build a school together. No matter whether he is the dean or a student, whoever cannot build his or her own cottage, will live in the tent forever. Will there be any other buildings besides the dormitories? All buildings of the school are cottages. Besides dormitories, we will have libraries, science halls, classrooms, recreation rooms, exercise rooms,

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greenhouses, exhibition rooms, a hospital, and a zoo. Dormitories for instructors’ dependents will be built gradually, also in the form of cottages. Can we summarize the spirit of the experimental rural teachers’ school in one word? The meaning of our school flag represents the spirit of the school. There is a small circle at the center of the flag. A word “live” in the circle means the viability we want to cultivate. An equilateral triangle outside the circle, represents the integration of teaching, learning, and practicing. The character “heart” is on top of the triangle, which means we care about peasants’ weal and woe. There is a pen on the left and a hoe on the right. A large circle outside the triangle that radiates the light represents the sun. There are a hundred golden stars all over the flag outside the large circle, which means a million schools will change a million villages and bring them into the sunlight. All the light will join together and become the great light of the Republic of China. The dawn on December 28, the fifteenth year of the Republic of China.

part 3 Education for All

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chapter 17

The People’s Education Movement in China The People’s Education Movement started some twelve years ago when a group of professors and students plunged into the life of the peasantry and tried to work out a method of education which would be of real service to the peasants. It has been an effort to supplement what the regular school system cannot do. It has been an attempt to develop an education from native soil as against education imported from foreign lands which have different historical and physical back-grounds. It has been an attempt to develop an education for the great masses of toiling people as against the education for the privileged few. It has been an attempt to develop an education for the whole life as against the education for an abnormal intellect. In order to achieve these objectives we have laid down four conditions to guarantee its success: 1. 2. 3. 4.

The experimenters must live among the masses and learn from them; The methods must be based on reflective acting instead of academic thinking; The cost of education must be reduced to a minimum both in money and time; A will to free ourselves from the bias and prejudices of the teaching profession.

These are some of the things that show a partial picture of the Morning Village Experiment (Shao Chuang). The chief results of this experiment are the formulation of the theories of Life as Education, Society as School, and the Unity in Teaching, Learning and Reflective Acting. The Shan Hai Labour Science Union and the Little Teachers came to answer the challenge of the Invasion of 1931 and 1932. When the Invasion penetrated into North China and the Peking students rose to call for its protection, our movement took the form of the Society of National Crisis Education and co-operated hand in hand with the All-China National Salvation Association. Ever since December, 1935, the aims of this movement have been: 1. 2. 3. 4.

United Defence of Chinese Democracy: World peace through international co-operation; Self-uplifting of the people; Free education for all.

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It is only the last aim and the methods for attaining it that will receive detailed discussion here. Even here it is not linguistic literacy alone that is looked for, but also political and economic literacy. All the while we are trying our utmost to discover the simplest technique that will make it possible for an education of the people, by the people and for the people to be worked out so that our people can qualify more and more for participating in the great struggle for a free China among the family of free nations.

The Scholar Ghost

A wrong conception of education with centuries’ tradition behind it is in our way. Education in the old sense has been identified with book-reading. A scholar is called “dushurhen” which means one who reads books. When you ask a professor what his profession is, in a very usual manner he would answer, “I am teaching books in Peking University.” In the same way a student would answer, “Wo zai Beida dushu,” meaning that he is reading books in Peking University. While we value books as an important means of enlightening ourselves in past and contemporary civilization, we doubt whether reading books alone can lead us to freedom and doubt whether one has done justice to books by merely reading them. In more progressive circles such scholars are nicknamed as “bookworms.” My friend, Dr. P.C. Chang, calls them “scholar ghosts.” Here is a little poem of mine which gives a picture of such scholars: What is a scholar ghost? He lives along the Pacific Coast. He has bookish knowledge to boast. He has his eyes on the official post. He likes delicious food, And makes the half-starved farmers to be his hosts. When jobless, he teaches children, And makes all of them little scholar ghosts.

Hands and Brains Unite

Traditional education in China seems to have created two types of strange human beings. In the schools the students are fed with knowledge to swell their heads and are provided with little opportunity for the use of their hands. Servants are doing many things for them that should be done by themselves.

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The making of mud pie and the opening of a watch for examination are punished alike. From the development of the human race we know it was our hands that helped to make the brain. As our hands were set free by the erected position we began to work, and as we were working we made noises that were gradually selected to serve as our spoken languages. The written languages and tools are all the creation of our hands. The discouragement of the use of hands in the older schools has really defeated their own purposes of developing the brain. With this abnormal training the students have acquired a store of undigested and unrelated knowledges without being able to identify them with realities. They seem to have a big head which cannot think accurately in terms of the objective world. Therefore those who have had the opportunity of schooling come out with a big head and a pair of small hands, in figurative speech, look somewhat like a kangaroo, having only the strength to pick up a pen and write a few lines. On the other hand the great masses of our people, doing the great bulk of work for the nation, are left without school education. While they are paying taxes for schools to run, they and their children have been deprived of every leisure for cultural growth. They have been forced to exist with the appearance of a small head and a pair of big hands. The Life Education Movement aims at the restoration of these strange human beings to normal life. We want to awaken the scholars to pull out their hands to work and awaken the great masses of people to blow something into their heads in order to think. The bringing into contact of the scholars with the peasants has achieved almost miracles. Both the scholars and the peasants have rediscovered something they had forgotten. The scholars, seeing the splendid productive work done by the peasants, cannot but cry out, “Don’t we have hands too? Why don’t we work?” In a similar way the peasants have rediscovered their brain: “We have head, sure, we have head, let us think!” Indeed real education must help to produce persons who can think and build. What we need is an education for brain-directed hands and hands-motorised brain. This new conception of education is pictured by a poem, entitled “Brain and Hands Unite”: Two treasures with us lifelong remain: A pair of free hands and a great brain. He who does not use his hand Belongs to the dethroned king’s band. He who does not use his brain Has to endure hunger and pain. He who uses both his brain and hand Can create a new world on exploited land.

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Labour Science Union

From the principle of the Unity of Brain and Hands we have evolved the idea of Labour Science Union. This seemed to be a very awkward term, but it tells the contents, methods and organization of our new education: labour to nourish life; science to understand life; union to protect life. This gives the whole content of education. Further, the methods of labor, science and union determine the methods of education which will no longer be purely academic. Finally, the term shows the nature of the organization. It is a richer term than school, because a school in the traditional sense may excel in science but offers very little opportunity for the students to work and cooperate. It is even a better term than a co-operative society which does not give enough attention to other phases of human life besides the immediate economic needs. In practice the Labour Science Union takes three forms. First, those which apply the new principle in the strict sense and take the name of Labour Science Union, such as the Cotton Growers’ Labour Science Union in Paoshan, and the News Boys’ Labour Science Union in Shanghai. In the former case, cotton-growing is labour, the seeking of a better way of growing cotton and a better understand of life as a whole is science, and the organizing of the peasants engaged in growing cotton in such a way as to be able to protect their fruits of labour from exploitation as well as to participate in the greater protection of the nation and mankind against aggression constitutes the real meaning of a union. The improvement of the quality of cotton through a better selection of seeds has enabled a small community to reap an increase of 2,000 dollars averaging at $6 per acre. One-tenth of this extra income has enabled them to a start a Children’s Labour Science. Union in the same village, aiming to give a better education to their children. The News-boys’ Labour Science Union on Bubbling. Well Road, Shanghai, was founded in a very interesting way. One day it was noticed that these boys could not read the newspapers they were selling. We offered the service of a young man to teach them. This was accepted by the boys with gladness. Then they met with the difficulty to find a class room. The boys were charged with the mission to find a place by themselves. Finally, the mother of Lukungyi, one of the boys, was generous enough to offer her only room for the free use of these boys. They spent one hour a day with the voluntary teacher there. The newspapers became their textbooks. Headlines were their first lessons. They were given education free, but in turn they had the duty to share what they learned with their neighbours. The boys were self-supporting. Selling newspapers began to be regarded as a very honourable labour. Once united the boys

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became strong. They had a better chance to deal with the news dealers. Some of them had even won respect from enlightened police. The second form of Labour Science Union is worked out under the name of schools. They have enriched their programme by incorporating some productive and socializing activities, but still keeps the name of a school. The third form consists of vitalizing the co-operatives with cultural and defensive features while strengthening the productive phase. They are Labour Science Unions in reality but keep the name of co-operative societies. This movement will render its timely service to the millions of refugees.

The Little Teachers

The little teachers are the children who share education with others. During the earlier stage of development the most prevailing type of little teachers are school children who volunteer to help their home folks and neighbours to acquire the elements of knowledge. As time goes on even children of the street pass on whatever they have learned to their friends. The first hint of the possibility of the little teacher was suggested by an incident some fourteen years ago when my mother, then fifty-seven years of age, got interested in learning. She wanted to read my letters sent home and wanted to know something of what was going on in the world. The only teacher available for her was my second boy who was then six years old and happened to have finished the first reader. The grandma and the grandson played, and studied. In one month my mother finished the first book. This happy incident did not arouse much enthusiasm beyond my family circle at the time. But the fact that a six-year-old boy, without a diploma from a normal school or a certificate from a superintendent of education, succeeded in teaching a fifty-seven-years-old grandma to finish the first reader, had made upon my mind a very deep impression which was one of the determining factors in discovering “the little teacher.” When Manchuria was invaded and Shanghai attacked in 1931 and 1932, we began to be convinced that the nation cannot be saved without national unity through a general awakening of the whole population. This calls for a free education for all at the lowest cost and within the shortest period of time. Young men and young ladies with progressive ideas flooded into the villages in order to help the peasants to understand the national crisis. Some of them came to me for a word of guidance. My advice was simple: all come all serve. But as the peasants became increasingly aware of the importance of education to themselves and their children, they and their youngsters began to flood the small schools with attendance. Not a few teachers were doubting

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how long they could keep it going on this principle. Frankly saying, some teachers were considering how to reduce the attendance by charging fees or by having an entrance examination. If this was allowed the whole purpose of people’s education would have been defeated, for it meant a return to the education for the few. We tried our best to urge them to face reality and devise new ways to meet the situation. Under the pressure of necessity, they naturally delegated some able pupils to take charge of the surplus attendance. One day, in November of 1932, I visited the Shan Hai Labor Science Union and was amazed to watch a twelve-year-old boy Lu Peng handling a class of more than forty children. Every little soul was in his palm! In a flash, the incident of the grandson teaching his grandma emerged from my sub-consciousness. A meeting of the staff was called at once and I told them that they themselves had already found a way to save the school and the nation. That is “the little teachers.” With the rise of the little teachers we have been enabled not only to keep the guiding principle “all come all serve” but in addition we have a new slogan “they who cannot come will receive education on delivery without cash.” Since then we have witnessed the little friends delivering education to housewives and cowboys who cannot possibly attend regular classes without breaking their rice bowls. This feature of delivering education and home teaching has made the little teacher system unique and differentiated it from the Lancastarian pupil-teacher. Another difference is found in the fact that sooner or later even the cowboys and housewives begin to share their education with others. The little teachers are rendering one unique service to China, that is to help grown-up girls and women to acquire some education. Male teachers find it difficult to teach grown-up girls in the villages where old customs prevail. A young man daring to do so will run the risk of gossip and the girls will be scared away and he will have to teach benches and chairs! Female teachers are very few. The problem of extending education to women has puzzled us for many years. But when the little teachers come up this problem just melts like snow before sunshine. They can penetrate into the chamber of a bride and give her a lesson. The little ones are much more accommodating than the regular ­teachers. As a little teacher is delivering education to a peasant’s home, if the housewife has not finished dishwashing, she can ask the little friend to wait for a while. The little friend will be glad to do so and takes the opportunity to play a little while on the yard. In this way the little teachers have helped to promote women education. In the One Hundred Dukes Village, Kwantung, there were in 1934 two hundred school children who volunteered to teach two thousand villagers of whom fifteen hundred were girls and women.

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The little teachers are very clever in convincing the older generation for further progress. A story may be of interest to all. Near the West Lake there is the Cave of Clouds and above the Cave there is a little tea growing community, called Wung Cha Hill, which has a school in a temple. This school has about one hundred “little teachers.” Once a little teacher just twelve years old told me a very interesting story of how he converted his grandma to take lessons from him. He approached his grandma with a beautiful book, “Grandma, if you like to study this book, I will be glad to help you.” The old lady answered, “My good boy, your grandma is too old to study. I am about leaving this world, what is the use of learning to me?” This was quite a stiff problem for the little boy to solve. But after having puzzled for a little while, he returned to grandma, “On leaving the world, where are you planning to go?” “Well, I am a good woman, and am entitled to enter Heaven.” The boy said, “Congratulations! But if the guardians of Heaven should call on you to sign your name before allowing you to enter, what would you do?” Grandma seemed to be thoroughly convinced and immediately asked him to teach her how to write her name. “Bring me a pencil. Give me a piece of paper.” She began to practice writing her name. A more interesting thing happened at midnight. In our country the grandma usually takes charge of the surplus children of the family. This boy was sleeping with grandma. At midnight he suddenly woke up and suspected that some insects were crawling up his legs! When he stretched his hand and felt, to his surprise, it was not insects, but the fingers of his grandma, making crosses, circles and strokes. When she was asked why she did it the grandma answered, “well, I am practising writing my name.” From our experience, the little teachers are very enthusiastic. A song gives a better picture of the little teacher’s enthusiasm: I am a little teacher, you know, My heart is like a little volcano. I am not afraid of frost and snow; I melt ignorance wherever I go. The little teachers are sometimes called “mosquito teachers.” I presume most of us do not like mosquitoes. But there is one thing I can defend for them. When you have gangsters around you, the mosquitoes will keep you awake all night. Indeed, the little teachers today have gone far beyond the teaching of reading and writing. They are constantly bringing to the people songs, stories, news, knowledge and problems for discussion. The Sin An little teachers have even gone a step further by organising themselves into a touring corp carrying

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with them radio sets, news reels, records, and dramatic equipment. They have travelled through nearly all the northern provinces and visited many villages along the highways and army camps behind the battlefields. Wherever they go they give performances, shows and lectures, and start reading circles or discussion groups in order to keep the national struggle alive in the minds of our people. The principle derived from the little teachers is very simple. Any one who has learned a simple truth has the qualification to teach it and has the duty to share it with others. Speaking from our experience the little teacher movement has shown the following merits. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

The children learn more by teaching others. He who keep his knowledge in the cold storage of his head learns the least. Knowledge is no longer a commodity for sale. Education becomes a free gift for all. It is like the air which everybody can breath, like water which everybody can drink, and like sunshine which everybody can enjoy. The older generation and youths make progress together. The constant contact between adults and children in intellectual growth tends to make the old people younger. It helps to solve the insurmountable difficulties of women’s education and makes it possible for us to extend an essential education to half of our population which can be hardly reached by other means. A new change in the school itself coincided with the arrival of the little teachers. Formerly the village school was a lonely thing in the country. Now with the little teachers as live-wires connecting the village school with every home, the whole village becomes the school, and the light of education radiates everywhere while the school is in turn vitalised by the stream of problems calling for solution. The lonely teacher in a ruined temple, joined suddenly with tens of little comrades cannot but see a new vision in his profession and feel elevated for the historic mission that he is to fulfill. Mr. Tsao Dai-kiang, a teacher in the Temple of Emperor Shun, was about to resign because he found it difficult to keep his family alive with the meagre salary of a Shansi village school. When at the point of resignation, he came across the methods of the little teachers from a magazine called Life Education. He gave it a trial and sent out a message that has inspired many village teachers to stick on their posts. He said, “with the little teachers and the little workers as my comrades, I am confident that we can rebuild the village life in a few years. I feel as if the

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destiny of the whole nation is in the hands of teachers.” In conclusion he wrote that he would not resign even if he should be offered a salary ten times higher. The little teacher movement is not without its dangers. I may mention two. Firstly, the little teachers, under the control of over enthusiastic leadership, are apt to be overworked. This will do harm to the child’s health and retard the cause. As a rule we do not advise the little teachers to teach more than half  an hour a day. Secondly, some politicians and dogmatic ministers have availed themselves to use these children as little propagandists. This is against our principle. A teacher is one who teaches truth and nothing but truth. In order to teach truth he has to seek truth. Free criticism is absolutely necessary. In order to prevent the abuse of children for propaganda, we must inject the anti-toxin of free criticism.

Relay Teacher

Another type of voluntary teachers, modelled on the same principles that govern the little teachers, are called relay teachers. The difference is found in age, the little teachers are below sixteen while the relay teachers are above sixteen years of age. The term “relay teacher” is derived from relay race, passing the banner to the succeeding runner. The best way to show the working of the relay teaching is to invite an audience to imagine themselves as the farmers of China attending an evening class in the village and the speaker as a country school teacher. The mission of the evening school teacher is not teaching the farmers as students but to help them to become relay teachers, who are supposed to go out to teach others not after four or five years’ graduation; they are supposed to teach others right after the class is dismissed. After the class is dismissed, every student becomes a teacher and every home becomes a centre of learning. It is quite surprising to find that one tenth of our farmers have the ability to lead independent classes. The rest can teach at least two friends, one on the lefthand side and the other on the righthand side. If the two friends are too poor to buy books, the relay teacher’s own book can be shared by three. The relay teacher has got his lesson fresh from the evening class and he has to review it. In reviewing his own lesson he has taught his two friends. And in teaching his friends he learns more, more clearly and more profoundly. The moment one wishes to share his knowledge with others his own knowledge will have a high jump. “Pass the truth on to your neighbour”

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has been the motto for the relay teachers. It is very gratifying to see so many of our farmres and workers who have come to serve as relay teachers of their fellow men.

Relay Teaching Applied by Women Workers

Miss Chu Ping-yu, a woman worker in a tobacco company, Yangtsepoo, Shanghai, has done most excellent work in extending relay teaching to female ­workers. She works in Shanghai and lives in Pootung, about five miles away. In Pootung, near her home, there is an evening school for the training of ­relay teachers, conducted under the auspices of the Shanghai Y.W.C.A. Miss Chu takes one-hour lesson there every evening except Sunday. Before daybreak she crosses the Hwangpoo river and walks about two miles in order to enter the factory in time. At noon, the factory has one hour recess, releasing all the workers to take their lunch on the street. The factory is then closed and will not open until a few minutes before 1 p.m. The simple meal in the street lasts ten minutes. Miss Chu has a plan in her mind to help her sister workers to acquire some education by utilising the rest of the time. First, she calls for her comrades to meet in an open place. However, the men workers crowd into the same place in order to watch what the women are doing. They are curious about these women because never before did they see this wonder—women gathering in the open air with books in hands and maps posted. The men are amazed to witness these women reading, discussing and singing songs. The presence of men has proved to be a great nuisance to the sisters. Miss Chu is finally forced to seek for other shelter. This she has secured when an elementary school principal has been finally induced to let her have one classroom for holding the recitation since his school children do not return until one o’clock. Since then the enrolment of sister workers increases by leaps and bounds and in a few days Miss Chu has to choose an able student from her class to be relay teacher of a second group. In a month she has to occupy all the rooms at the disposal of the good principal in order to meet the increasing demand. After all the rooms have been crowded new groups are formed in the homes of the sisters and capable relay teachers are selected by each group for the evening instruction. Thus the classes started by Miss Chu and her associates have become the training centre of relay teachers for woman workers in that district and the light of education radiates therefrom to every home that has come in contact with them. As time goes on, workers of other districts, have caught the wind of what has been going here. Some of them have been inspired to carry on similar projects. Even those male workers who have caused some trouble

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to Miss Chu’s class at the beginning begin to see the importance of this ­education and decide to start men’s classes, applying similar principles.

A New Script

The People’s Education Movement is also interested in promoting a new script for the Chinese spoken languages. The attempt of inventing a pho­ netic script for the Chinese spoken language started more than seventy years ago but the last attempt has proved to be the best and most fruitful. The scripts for the Northern, Shanghai, Canton, Amoy and a few other dialects have been worked out. The new scripts treat the Chinese spoken language as a polysyllabic language and has succeeded in eliminating the troublesome minute symbols for the different tones. It is this great merit that makes it surpass all the previous inventions. With these new scripts the peasants in different localities can learn to read and write letters in their mother-tongue in one or two months by spending one hour a day. How great is the amount of time saved! The greatest and most urgent need of China today is to rally all the people around the central thought and action in resisting Japanese aggression. We must not hesitate in mobilising all the vehicles of communication for achieving this unity. The New Scripts are some of the best vehicles at our disposal and must be used to their best advantage in spite of all the difficulties in the way. For want of space I shall present only the New Script for the Northern Dicalect. The six vowels are a as a in papa, e as e in after, i as i in is, o as o in home, u as oo in food, y as the German ü. The twelve consonants are b as be in Berlin, c as ts in Tsitsihar, ch as ch in child, d as de in wonder, p as p in part, r as r in run, rh as r with tongue drawn back and concavely pressed upon the jaw, f as f in for, g as gi in girl, j as y in yes, k as k in kind, l as le in let, m as me in men, n as ne in Brennen, ng as ng in king, s as s in see, sh as sh in she, t as te in Terman, w as woo in wood, x as he in Herman z as z in zinc, zh as ch with tongue drawn back and concavely pressed on the upper jaw. The fifteen compound vowels are ai as i in high, ao as ou in out, ei as a in fate, ie as first i in legitimate, ou as eu in pasteur, with the lower jaw extended out, ia as ya in yard, iao equals i plus ao, iou equals i plus ou, iu as eu in Europe, uo equals u plus o, ua equals u plus a, uai equals u plus ai, ui equals u plus i, ye equals ü plus e, yo equals ü plus o. The fifteen nasal vowels are an anq, en, enq, ian, ianq, in, inq, uan, uanq, un, unq, yan, yn ynq. The three vairable consonants are g, k, x, which change into soft sounds when they appear before i and y. These complete the New Script for the Northern Dialect. The Northern Dialect can be understood by three fourths of the whole population. If the New Script of the Northern

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Dialect could command a universal adoption, three fourths of our illeteracy could be wiped out in two or three years. The New Scripts have received great momentum during the last year. In one city alone 300,000 have learned the new script and can read publications published in it. It is hoped that the government will see the importance of its adoption at least as one of the alternatives and use its prestige and influence to spread it among the less fortunate of the population who have neither time nor money to learn the thousands of Chinese characters which will take years to master them.

Society as School

Another conception is to regard the community as our school, utilising all the available resources for the uplifting of the people. An application of this idea is to utilise temples, tea houses and every possible vacant place for readingcircles, discussion groups, etc. Our policy is to spend as little as possible on buildings. Wherever a room will not be available, the shade of a tree will do. Bigger meeting is always held in the open air. The nature-made auditorium is indeed magnificent. With the blue sky as our roof, mother earth as our floor, the constellations as our walls, the moon there as our lamp, our farmers are holding their mass meetings and forums. It is in such an auditorium that the peasants of China are singing their songs, telling their stores, learning their simple truth, and discussing national and international problems.

Birth of a New Peasantry

Under all these forces operating in the villages, taking command of them and marshalling them, a new peasantry is rising in the East. The farmer in Good Earth trying all the time to get more and more land for his own family in order to become richer than his fellow farmers is no longer an example for others to follow. The present day progressive farmers in China want to have land enough for every farmer to lead a decent life. It is for this reason that they take so great and heroic a part in the struggle against Japanese aggression. It is also for the same reason that they want to unite all the people in action in order to insure the final victory. Here is a picture of this New Peasantry: Dancing of the Hoe Take up your hoe. Take up your hoe.

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Cut off the weeds, The crops will grow. Drive off your foe! Sons of the Ancient Country. Under the hoe, There is liberty, Hail Revolution! The hoe must defend. Long live the hoe! Fight to the end. When fighting alone The hoe cannot stand long. Machines and hoes unite, A new world is in sight.

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Educating the Masses1 1

The Effect of Mass Education

China is currently implementing a mass education program, which is, in fact, a mass literacy campaign. We aim to teach people to read good books and be a good person within shortest time span and with minimum expenditure. We are convinced that literacy is the foundation of all kinds of education. People who read books better understand their responsibilities to their country and humanity, as well as their own rights. They could also learn more new knowledge and techniques from books and newspapers to improve their careers, which lets them earn a living. Those ignorant people don’t care much about their children’s education. However, if a person reads often himself, he will understand the importance of reading and education, and will never allow his children to drop out of school. Therefore, the mass education program today is the precursor to the more holistic mass education of future. In addition to this, people could also learn skills such as writing letters and bookkeeping, which will make life much easier. 2

The Scope of Educating the Masses

Considering the population of China, educating the masses is an astoundingly big issue. China has no official census statistics so let’s use the population estimation of four hundred million. According to the estimation by the China Education Improvement Institute, among people above twelve years old, only 80 million have a basic literacy level. The number of children below twelve years old and within the scope of compulsory education is approximately 120 million. Our mass education campaign shall be responsible for the remaining two hundred million people. Our mission will not end if one single person out of those two hundred million is unable to read a book or newspaper.

1 This article was originally published in Zhonghua Jiaoyujie 14 (4) October 1924.

© koninklijke brill nv, leiden, ���6 | doi 10.1163/9789004302853_019

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The History of Mass Education in China

The issue of mass education caught people’s attention more than twenty years ago. The simplified Chinese character campaign in the early Qing Dynasty aimed at bringing literacy to the masses, but did so in vain. Some people tried to offer crash literacy courses using a phonetic alphabet as a tool. The effectiveness of those courses is still under examination. After the May Fourth Movement, students demonstrated their enthusiasm for social services in patriotic movements. They voluntarily established many schools all over the country to educate the masses. Even though those schools had some problems, they attracted our interest and provoked our thinking on improving mass education. Later, Mr. Yan Yangchu compiled a textbook with a thousand characters and started an experimental mass education program in Changsha, Yantai, Jiaxing, and some other cities. His program was both cost efficient and time efficient. Before that, both From Easy to Advanced, written by Mr. Bi Laisi, and the textbook based on six hundred characters, written by Mr. Tang Jing’an, attracted some attention. These were all regional experiments. In June last year, Ms. Xiong Bingsan visited Jiaxing People’s school. After that, together with Mr. Yan Yangchu and us, she prepared for the establishment of the National Association of Mass Education Movements (mem). At the same time, Mr. Zhu Jingnong and I were elected to compile textbooks based on the national conditions and the people’s needs. Mr. Wang Boqiu was elected to organize experiments on the mass literacy education program in the city of Nanjing. In August, during the annual conference of the China Education Improvement Institute in Tsinghua University, we invited representatives from the department of education of each province and educational institutions to the meeting to discuss the plan and strategies of mass literacy education. The general committee of the National Association of mem was then established. Within nine months—from October until now—our program has been implemented in twenty provinces and districts. Over five hundred thousand people have learned from A Thousand Characters for the People. This shows the national enthusiasm and strong interest in the mass education movement. 4

The Current Mass Education System

The General Committee of the National Association of mem is the national main office of the organization. It is operated by a board of directors, which mainly consists of two kinds of directors: each province has two directors on

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the board, who are provincial directors, and nine executive directors, who are elected Beijing-based members. The board of directors would appoint general officers to operate the organization. Apart from the General Committee, the National Association of mem has provincial, prefectural, municipal, and township mem chapters, which are responsible for the mass education projects in each province, county, city, or town, respectively. Mass education committees shall be set up in each district in the cities, as well as each village and in the towns, so that they can carry out the mass education projects in the districts and villages. Up until now, twenty provinces have established provincial chapters. We haven’t obtained accurate figures for numbers of prefectural, municipal, and township chapters. We are experimenting with mass education programs at the district level in Yangshi Avenue in Beijing and Fudong Avenue in Nanjing. Town-village-level experimental programs are also being held in Longfu and Xicun in Xiuning and other villages. 5

The Organization of Mass Education

It is important for educational programs to conform to the condition of the society and people’s lifestyles and customs. Therefore, we propose three types of mass education programs to cater to the needs of all kinds of people: A The People’s School The people’s school adopts the class system. Big classes with over one to two hundred students shall use projectors and slideshows. Smaller classes have over thirty to forty students and are taught with wall charts and textbooks. This is similar to ordinary classroom teaching and no further explanation is necessary. B The People’s Literacy Station We also realize that many people in our society are not able to go to schools according to the class schedules offered, due to job responsibilities or other reasons. Hence, we set up people’s literacy stations for them as an alternative. The literacy stations are set up at homes, in shops, or in offices. We invite literate persons at homes, in shops, or in offices to teach their illiterate fellows. Both the teachers and the students are living or working at the same place. This method promotes literacy learning from people who are physically close to each other. The people’s literacy station could be an effective program if the head of the place supervises the program and the assistant teachers receive

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weekly training and regular instructions. The Shandong First Normal University adopts this strategy, where one university lecturer could serve over a thousand persons in mass education. C The People’s Character Information Station This was invented by the general director of Nanjing mem chapter, Mr. Wang Boqiu. There are still some people in our society who are not only unable to go to school but also have no one to teach them at home. Neither a people’s school nor a people’s literacy station could solve their problems. Most of this population, such as those who run small business and draymen, is migrating. The people’s character information stations are set up in shops, at homes, or in offices with people who teach characters. Anyone can ask questions about the characters in the textbook A Thousand Characters for the People at the people’s character information stations in shops, houses, or offices. For example, a person who sets up a stall close to a people’s character information station could ask questions when he has no business; similarly, a drayman who stops by a character information station could also learn a few characters when he has no customers. This program is now being experimented with in Nanjing. 6

Teaching Materials and Teaching Aids

The textbook A Thousand Characters is an important teaching material for mass education. The over a thousand characters included in this book were selected from the Lexicon2 edited by Mr. Chen Heqin. The general objective of the book includes four aspects: self-dependence, mutual support, self-restraint, and quest for improvement. The book contains ninety-six lessons, which could be taught in ninety-six days, one hour per day. We strive to make the contents easy to understand as well as interesting to learn so that students would be self-motivated to continue learning new lessons. We hope that their perseverance and efforts in learning can be maintained through their own interest. We are still revising the book according to this teaching philosophy, hoping that it will fit students’ needs better. The two most important teaching aids are projectors and slideshows—the Young Men’s Christian Association is trying to improve the facilities, making

2 The Lexicon, Zihui (字汇), the first draft of the Yutiwen yingyong zihui (语体文应用字汇) [Modern Written Chinese Lexicon], written by Chen Heqin (陈鹤琴) and published later by the Commercial Press in 1928.

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them especially inexpensive and operable—as well as wall charts, which are a little cheaper than projectors and suitable for small classes. 7

Examination and Graduation

Generally speaking, students at the people’s schools and the people’s literacy stations can graduate in four months. Upon graduation, the students will take exams. Those who pass the exam can get a Certificate for Literate Citizenship, while those who fail the exam can take the exam over and over again until they pass it. The rewards for the teachers depend on the number of their students who pass the exam. A teacher can get a Certificate of People’s Teacher when thirty of his/her students pass the exam. Either our association or the government would give appropriate rewards to people who work or donate for mass education. The participants for the movements all over the country are not working for the rewards. The rewards issued by our association serve as recognition of the value of their work. 8

Founding Issues

The expenditures of the mass education programs have been reduced to the minimum level. With the support of the Commercial Press, our textbook, A Thousand Characters, is almost sold at cost. The whole series of the textbook, which includes four books, costs only ten foreign cents. The cost for teaching one student at the People’s literacy stations is only twenty cents. Teaching costs at the People’s schools are a little higher at forty to fifty cents per student. Even if the projector and slideshows are being used, the cost would not be higher than one yuan per person. We hope that provincial and prefectural governments could include the mass education into their official budgets. The national government shall also collect funds to support the progressive advancement of local mems. However, even though these are our expectations, we would not count solely on government funds. We believe that everyone shall not only receive education but also share the cost of mass education. We are now adopting a strategy called “One Yuan Donation,” which enables the majority of people in our society to contribute to the mem financially. In doing this, everyone is also closely connected with mem. We are also convinced that donation could be a very valuable educational process. We hope to teach the society to contribute, instead of merely accepting help or looking on as others are offering support. We estimated that

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there would be enough funds after implementing the “One Yuan Donation” program and with some surtax revenue support. 9

Compulsory Education is a Necessary Measure

There are three types of people: some people are self-motivated in learning, some will be willing to learn after persuasion, and some will never learn unless they are forced to. According to our experience, three or four persons out of ten belong to the third group and need to be forced to learn. In addition to that, two or three persons out of the ten would voluntarily start learning if compulsory measures are put forth. Hence, compulsory education measures are necessary. There are two types of compulsory measures: one is voluntary compulsory measures by the society. For example, institutions such as the China Education Improvement Institute could announce to their employees: “From today on, those who are not willing to study literacy cannot work in the institution,” or, “Persons who do not have the Certificate for Literate Citizenship cannot work in the institution, effective on January 1, 14th year of the Republic.” The Peking Union Medical College Hospital could announce to its workers: “Within a certain period of time, workers who have not finished learning A Thousand Characters will not get a raise in salary.” These all belong to the category of societal voluntary compulsory measures. Compulsory policies issued by the government are also very important. Many government officers have considered policies on compulsory mass education, including Mr. Fang,3 vice governor of Wuhu city; Mr. Zhang, commander-in-chief of Chahar; and Mr. Wang, director of the education department of Henan province. Some of 3 The full name of Fang Dao Yin (Mr. Fang, vice governor of Wuhu) was Fang Zhiwu 房秩 五 (1877–1966). He was born in Congyang, Anhui Province. In 1903, Fang and Chen Duxiu founded Anhui Suhua Bao (安徽俗话报) [Anhui newspaper in vernacular Chinese]. In 1904, he traveled to Japan to study abroad. After returning to China, he established a normal school with crash courses. At the same time, he was also a proctor at Tongcheng Middle School and an officer of the General Education Committee of Anhui Province. Later, he was appointed as the chief editor of Dong San Sheng Ribao (东三省日报) [The Three Northeastern Provinces Daily]. After 1913, he was appointed to be the head of the tax bureau of Yichang city in Hubei province, and the manager of Liujiang coal mine in Qinhuangdao. He became the vice governor of Wuhu in 1921. In 1925, he established Fushan Elementary School. Later in 1927, he founded and became the headmaster of Fushan Middle School. After the establishment of the People’s Republic of China, he was appointed as a member of Anhui’s Provincial People’s Government Committee and the vice chairman of the provincial People’s Political Consultative Conference.

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the measures were implemented locally. We could learn from those policies and develop four measures. First, the implementation of mass education shall be part of the evaluation of the government officers lower than county level. Second, the government shall announce that from a certain date, police officers will randomly check everyone aged over twelve years old with A Thousand Characters at the city gate (those who can read the book can pass the gate, while those who fail have to pay a penalty of one copper yuan coin). Third, an “ignorance tax”—from a certain date on, institutions, shops, houses, or any kinds of organizations shall pay a monthly tax of ten foreign cents, if any member of the organization, who is aged above twelve, cannot read A Thousand Characters. They shall keep paying the tax until the member is able to read. The ignorance tax shall be paid by both the head of the organization and the illiterate member, each bearing a half. Fourth, the head of the organization shall be fined if he/she is found to hold his/her subordinates back from learning to read. 10

Go to the Countryside Campaign

Agriculture is a vital industry in China, with 80% to 90% of the population living in the countryside. The mem is targeting the masses; hence, it requires us to bring our programs to the countryside. We have now figured out a very effective strategy. The majority of students in school return to their home counties or villages during summer and winter vacations. We encourage them to bring A Thousand Characters back home and advertise the mem. We could start the programs in three different ways. First, gather together literate persons in counties or villages and provide them with short-term training on how to educate their family members. Second, find those smart, yet illiterate, persons in the villages and teach them four lessons every day, and at the same time, ask them to teach their family members back home one lesson per day. Those persons could finish all four books of the series in one single month, and they would finish teaching one book by then. After one month of learning as well as teaching, they would become teachers of the villages. Third, larger villages usually have private schools. We could persuade teachers in those schools to use A Thousand Characters in their classes and offer courses on A Thousand Characters to villagers during their spare time. The plan proposed by the Xiangshan Charity School on mem for the villages close to the West Hills is considered to be the most systematic one. The plan sets each elementary school as a teaching center and each household shall send one family member to a nearby school. That person will be responsible

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for teaching the rest of the family back home. In addition to teaching literacy, the schools also offer courses on practical skills and crafts. We sincerely hope this plan could be put into action. 11

Issues on Bringing Literacy to Women

The large majority of illiterate people are females. Considering the fact that most of the students in the People’s schools are adults and they have no formal education, it is not appropriate to have mixed-sex classes. This makes it even more difficult to bring literacy to women. Facing this issue, we currently adopt the following strategies: establish female people’s schools for women; set up more family-based people’s literacy stations so that family members can teach each other; persuade female students to teach women in their home villages during winter and summer vocations; and encourage women’s schools to cultivate female leaders, who will be devoted to promoting female mass education to a wider population. 12

The Continuation of Mass Education

The four-month courses on A Thousand Characters are, to some extent, handy. However, they are only a minimum part of the holistic education process. Also, the most important task after taking such courses is to maintain the knowledge so that people could remember what they have learnt and put it into practice. Therefore, as we are carrying out mem, we start planning for continuum education. First, we plan to collaborate with the most influential daily newspaper in the country and start a weekly newspaper The People. The weekly newspaper will not only be delivered free along with the daily newspaper but also sell on its own. With this newspaper, students who graduated from our programs could enjoy reading and learn about life as well as news in the world. Mr. Zhu Jingnong was appointed as the chief editor of the weekly newspaper, which will be published by Shen Bao [Shanghai News] on June 28. Sixty thousand copies will be distributed weekly. Second, we have invited more than forty experts to edit tens of series of books for the people to read. The China Education Improvement Institute helped a lot in the above two projects. In order to reach out to the widest population, we shall try to distribute the newspaper and books on trains, steamships, and even in the remote villages and communities, so that people could easily get access to the publication. We also invited librarians and experts to design People’s reading rooms to provide a convenient place for

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people to read newspaper and books. The National Association of Vocational Education of China is now compiling a series of books called A Mini Series of Books on the People’s Career, which would also be very beneficial for the people. Third, some students expressed their interest in continuing education, especially vocational training, to improve their living condition, after they finished the four-month4 literacy program. This is a very urgent need. Considering our scope of work, we hope that the National Association of Vocational Education of China could pay special attention to this request. Fourth, we have noticed some very talented students in our programs. The country and society should offer opportunities to enable the full development of these students. We are paying special attention to these students and are planning to encourage them to receive further education. 13

The Training of Talented Personnel

The mass education movement is of a massive scale, with a huge number of responsibilities and tasks. Therefore, we need to train lots of capable personnel to take different responsibilities and collaborate to meet our goals within the scheduled timeline. First, we should train personnel to implement the mem projects. Considering the enthusiasm for mass education in various locations, the most important task for the general committee is to send competent personnel to different places to help local organizations. They could direct them on the implementation of the programs and offer proper training for local staff who are working for mem. In order to achieve consistent outcomes, each higher-level committee shall be responsible for the training and supervision of the lower-level chapters. For example, the general committee supervises the provincial chapters, the provincial chapters supervise the prefectural and municipal chapters, the prefectural chapters supervise the township chapters, and the municipal chapters supervise the city district chapters. Second, we should train more teachers. The training of teachers for the People’s schools shall take the form of seminars so that we could train teachers through discussions. For assistant teachers at the People’s literacy stations, we shall offer systematic trainings, similar to those in teachers’ training programs. Third, the provincial and prefectural education supervision departments would be the most influential in promoting local mem. To improve the procedure, we shall hold

4 Four months refers to the time needed to finish learning A Thousand Characters for the People.

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short-term seminars to discuss strategies for the implementation of mass education in detail. We are hosting such seminars in the near future. 14

The Efficacy of the Collaboration of the Government and Civilians

Ever since the start of mem, some people have cast doubt on what we’ve been doing, and a few even hindered our progress. However, because of the rectitude of the mission of mem, the majority of the people are convinced that those who work for mem are striving for the well-being of the people, with no political, religious, or ideological purpose. This is the very reason why mem receives unanimous welcome. During the implementation of local mass education programs, people from all walks of life work together, including military people, politicians, police, local gentries, workers, businessmen, academics, religious persons, and so on. Such wide collaboration is unique. Academia is unsurprisingly enthusiastic about this movement. Most of the teachers and students work with perseverance as instructors, researchers, and advocators for the mass education. We sincerely admire and appreciate their work. Some businessmen also warmly support mem. The promotion of mass education in urban areas is largely depend on business people. The chairman of Hankou Unite Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Zhou, was a particularly ardent supporter. The several People’s schools that he established were all very successful. It is said that he is planning to build twenty-five more. The business circle in Hankou plays an exemplary role for other businessmen in the country. Mr. Li Ziyun in Wuchang is one of the factory owners who vigorously promotes mass education. We sincerely hope that all factories in the country could continue advocating for the literacy education of their workers. Over fifty folk storytellers in Nanjing included the benefits of reading in their storytelling performances to help persuade their audiences. On the third, sixth, and ninth day of each month, they would give speeches on the importance of literacy in the four districts of the city. They also composed folklore on literacy and sang to the masses to advise them to read. With the best knowledge of the masses, the folk storytellers are the best teachers for them. We call for actions from the folk storytellers nationwide to serve the masses. A considerable amount of local government bureaus also expressed support for the mass education. The Jiangsu government took the lead in allocating a huge amount of funds for experiments on mass education in Nanjing. The Hubei government also made great efforts in advocating mem. In addition, Jiangxi, Chahar, and other local governments were also very involved. Recently, the Fengtian government ordered tens of thousands of army personnel to receive mass education. This is a

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remarkable event in our pursuit of mass education. The provincial governor of Jiangsu, Mr. Han Zishi, was the first civil administration officer to advocate for the mass education. The former governor of Anhui province, Mr. Lü Diaoyuan, ordered the armed escorts of the government office as well as public servants to take courses on A Thousand Characters. Regrettably, the program was forced to stop when Ma Lianjia took control of Anhui province. The governor’s office of Hubei province also organized a class on A Thousand Characters. The first cohort of students has graduated, and the office is now planning to continue the program. The former director of the education department of Anhui province, Mr. Jiang Tonghou, ordered all employees of the department to study A Thousand Characters. This could be considered the start of compulsory mass education. Although the policy was suspended when Xie Xuelin was appointed as the director, it was later resumed when the new director, Lu Shaoliu, took the position. Everything has gone smoothly since then. The education departments of Jiangxi and Hubei provinces also initiated literacy courses, which set role models for the province. These are all gratifying achievements. Besides, both Mr. Fang, vice governor of Wuhu city, and Mr. Zhang, commander-in-chief of Chahar, are advocators of the mass education. Many prefectural government offices also started mass education programs. In addition to that, police officers have become one of the most important forces in promoting mass education. In urban areas, the policemen are as powerful as businessmen. In Nanjing, police officers are involved in teaching the masses literacy, and lower-ranked policemen help persuade people to study literacy enthusiastically. The Wuchang general police department and district police stations have set up twentynine People’s reading rooms. All illiterate policemen and public servants are required to take literacy courses, or they will be discharged. What a forceful policy that is! Policemen in Jiujiang are also very supportive of the mem. Those incarcerated prisoners don’t have much to do besides the compulsory works. We could take the opportunity and make good use of their spare time to teach them to read good books and be good people. Currently, courses on A Thousand Characters are offered in many prisons, including those in Anqing, Nanchang, Nanjing, Wuchang, Hankou, and others. In addition to that, we are glad to learn that in some prisons, literate prisoners are teaching illiterate ones. 15

The Unanimous Support of Mass Education from South and North China—A Very Positive Phenomenon

We not only see the collaborations of people from all walks of life in the mass education but also witness the cooperation of South and North China. Guangdong, Yunnan, Hunan, the three Northeastern provinces, Sichuan, and many

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other provinces and districts are working together to push forward the mem. This shows that people feel and think alike on this matter. China is not unified politically. However, the country is unified in the sense of education. We wholeheartedly believe that unified education could facilitate the reunification of the nation. 16 Epilogue Our expectation is that everyone is a learned and rational person, no matter where he/she is, who he/she is. We speculated that if the people keep on being enthusiastic and involved in the mem, we can have considerable achievements within ten years. Yet we shall not be satisfied with making the four-month program on A Thousand Characters universal. With the improving economic capacity of the people, we shall aim at ensuring enough education for the people to develop fully. This is our shared vision, which we will work for together in the future. Editor’s Note The mass education movement is the most promising cause in the history of education in China. Details of the movement could be found in Mr. Tao’s article. We need to be aware that the mission of the mass education is far beyond teaching a thousand characters to the people so that they could read newspapers, or do bookkeeping and write letters. What’s more important is to equip people with the necessary knowledge for citizens in a democratic nation so that they could become civic members of the Republic of China and love the country. We may treat the four-month mass education program as a quick start for the incomplete people’s education system that we are working on. However, the mass education program shall never be used as a tool by any religious group to preach their religion. Neither shall we allow any military people to deceive the public with this program. The program shall never be used by any politicians as a glory-seeking tool. If the religious group, military people, or immoral politicians took advantage of the program, the substance of the mass education would be changed, the progress of the program would be impeded, and the mass education would be ineffective. For example, in one province, the mass education program used to create a public sensation, yet recently, the program was forgotten, leaving behind a few signs for empty People’s schools or People’s reading rooms. The reason for this was that those religious groups, military people, or politicians made use of the program to seek public attention and never meant to seriously operate it. Therefore, I sincerely hope that educators shall not promote mass education in haste to avoid undesirable results, but instead, they shall implement and promote the program with persistent efforts.

chapter 19

Unity of Five Nationalities and Responsibilities of Educators1 Our country is known as the Republic of Five Nationalities.2 But is there really such a thing as unity of five nationalities? We have long cherished the ideal of unity of five nationalities, but have we ever taken measures to realize it? We have put up the sign of unity of five nationalities, but have we really done ­anything that lives up to it? The five-colored flag3 (the national flag of the ­Republic of China) represents the spirit of unity of five nationalities, but have people from the five nationalities regarded it as their common representative? Is everyone from the five nationalities aware of the existence of the Republic of China? Does everyone love the Republic of China? Does everyone regard the Republic of China as a country that is of the people, by the people, and for the people? Does everyone identify himself/herself as a citizen of the Republic of China? As we think about these questions, we should put a stopper on our fantasy and face up to reality. If I am to describe what each nationality under the five-colored flag has been doing, I would say that each of them is minding their own business. In other words, unity of five nationalities is the name, and each one minding their own business is the reality. We must realize that these two are at odds with each other. If we want to achieve unity of five nationalities, we should not just mind our own business; and if we act this way, we will not be able to realize unity of five nationalities. Therefore, it should be an issue of the greatest concern to all citizens to transform from a state where each one minds their own business to one where all people unite and help each other. We aspire for unity of five nationalities, but we cannot make any progress if we are only engaged in empty talk. During the early years of the 1 This article was originally published in Shanghai Post: Education and Life 22, March 17, 1927. 2 Our country is a multinational country. “Unity of five nationalities” means that national sovereignty is shared by Han, Meng, Man, Hui, Zang, and other minority nationalities and that the political system characterized by cooperation between nationalities, democracy, and equality is implemented. 3 The national flag, which was used from the founding of the Republic of China to 1927. The face of the flag consists of five parallel strips, each one of one color. The five colors are, respectively, red, yellow, blue, white, and black. These colored strips symbolize unity of five nationalities.

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Republic of China, people were engaged in heated discussions about unity of five ­nationalities. However, they never took any steps further to formulate specific measures. As a result, not a single result has been achieved. Besides, unity of five nationalities also can’t be achieved by the use of force. For example, General Xu Shuzheng once led troops to reclaim Outer Mongolia and suffered a defeat. Anyone who has a little knowledge about border issues can understand the consequence of that military action. What a long time is needed for the wound left on the people of Outer Mongolia by Han troops to heal! We must come to realize that use of force will not only fail to unite the spirit of five nationalities but also become the biggest obstacle to harmonious relationships between nationalities. Therefore, it is impossible to unite the North and South or the five nationalities by force. Even if it is possible to do so, the period of unity is bound to be transient. Besides, those concerned about border issues also include the so-called people who advocate colonization of border areas. Let’s try to put ourselves in the shoes of those border citizens and ask if they would like the colonization of border areas or not. I dare say on behalf of them that they hate the colonization of border areas. While others are trying to be their liberators, we as their compatriots, are seeking to be their masters because of their rich natural resources. Advocators of the use of force and advocators of colonization have made a fundamental mistake. That is, they have forgotten that the Republic of China is a country characterized by unity of five nationalities. As a result, they do not take the five nationalities as a whole into consideration but only seek to safeguard the interests of one nationality. In other words, they only put themselves in the shoes of one nationality. Anyone who only cares about himself and no one else is bound to fail; if we allow the present situation to continue like this, the worst scenario would be one where conflicts arise among the five nationalities. In order to build a republic of five nationalities, there are two critical measures: the first is to build a network of roads, and the second is to achieve universal access to education. Roads facilitate delivery of needed material supplies from one place to another; whereas education enriches people’s thoughts and makes up for what people fall short of in mind. Roads and education interact as both cause and effect. Only by developing both of them simultaneously can we fully achieve the purpose of unity of five nationalities. Thus, on the one hand, we hope that comrades in the transportation industry can regard building roads as a special priority; on the other hand, we should be anxious to ask ourselves what contributions we have made to achieving unity of five nationalities, what responsibilities we should take and what measures we should adopt to fulfill our responsibilities.

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As citizens of our five nationalities share the same national flag, there must be some essential spirit that helps us live harmoniously together. I am convinced that some of these spirits are essential for all of us, and some are essential between each of us. As to the essential spirit for all of us, everyone needs to have a thorough understanding of, and ardent love for, the Republic of China; everyone must be aware of their citizenship in the Republic of China, the rights they enjoy and the responsibilities they are obliged to fulfill; all citizens should be aware that the five nationalities share common interests and the same destiny. It is an indisputable fact that this kind of spirit is very weak right now. Let me give you an example. The four characters “Zhong Hua Min Guo” (the Republic of China) is equivalent to in Mongolian. The Chinese pronunciation of the word is “yilegen,” which means “Min” (people) in Chinese. However, for hundreds of years, Mongolians have been regarding “Han Chinese” as equivalent to “people.” Therefore, no distinction can be made between “Han Chinese” and “Min” in Mongolian language. In other words, “Han Chinese” refers to “people” and “people” refers to “Han Chinese” in Mongolian. As a result, when “Zhong Hua Min Guo” is translated into Mongolian, it may be misunderstood as “Zhong Hua Han Ren Guo” (the Republic of Han Chinese). This kind of country name should be transliterated instead of translated. Thus, it is indeed a pity that the translator of this name should make such a stupid mistake as to translate it into an ambiguous word in Mongolian. This example alone is enough for us to get an idea of how little the five nationalities know about the Republic of China. In fact, there are many things that are beyond our experience. We should try to foster a shared idea in the mind of people from the five nationalities in the Republic of China. In other words, we should enable people from the five nationalities to foster a sense of belonging to the Republic of China and embrace unity of five nationalities. I do not mean that one nationality should assimilate another nationality. Instead, I mean that Man, Han, Meng, Hui, and Zang nationalities should all cherish the same ideal and the same spirit. People from Man, Han, Meng, Hui, and Zang nationalities should foster a sense of belonging to the Republic of China just as people from Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Guangdong should also develop a sense of belonging to the Republic of China. It is the shared responsibility of us comrades from the field of education to use the spirit and methods of education to build a Republic of China characterized by unity of five nationalities. We five nationalities should not only identify ourselves with the Republic of China but also cherish a justified mentality to get along with each other. We five nationalities are like five brothers in a family—they are supposed to know each other, care for each other, and respect each other. However, at present, we

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are alienating ourselves from each other, hating each other, and despising each other. This state of being is not a long-term solution. People with high aspirations and determination definitely cannot bear to let the current situation be. Therefore, it is also the shared responsibility of all comrades from the field of education in our five nationalities to use the spirit and methods of education to enable compatriots from the five nationalities to know each other, care for each other, and respect each other, like real brothers. In a word, unity of five nationalities cannot be achieved overnight. By the same token, the Republic of China cannot be built in one day. Let me give you an analogy. When a newborn baby comes into the world, it is not enough for us to just pick a name for him. If we want him to get married and establish his own career in the future, we must spare no efforts to teach him and support him. Comrades from the field of education must participate in fostering unity of five nationalities. This cause may sound far-fetched and seem to be difficult. But because this is the way our state system is and this cause is of such importance, we should by no means pass the buck.

chapter 20

The Social University Movement1 There are two kinds of social universities: tangible social universities and intangible social universities. The social university movement is aimed at popularizing tangible social universities and giving formal recognition to the intangible social university so that every person in society acknowledges the intangible social university and is thus able to learn anytime and anywhere. The intangible social university is only placed in society but does not enjoy the name of “university.” In this university, sky is the roof, earth is the ground, the twenty-eight lunar mansions are the walls, and all people are classmates. In accordance with the principle of “those who know teach and those who do not know learn,” all people are both teachers and students. Creation of a new world is our major course. Although the intangible university does not enjoy the name of “social university,” it is in fact the greatest university, the university with the highest degree of freedom, and the university that best caters to the needs of the poor. We poor people have nothing but this kind of social university. Since this intangible social university belongs to us, we should acknowledge it, get to know it, value it, and make use of it to educate ourselves. In this way, we ourselves and our companions can form good learning habits. In other words, we will be able to make continued progress through lifelong learning. Thus, the first mission of the social university movement is to instill this notion into the mind of every person. Once, at a conference held by the Chinese Vocational Educational Institute, Mr. Huang Qisheng2 was listed as the number one guest. Unconvinced by the arrangement, some young cadres challenged the chairman by asking him what university Mr. Huang graduated from. Only when Mr. Jiang Wenyu answered that “Mr. Huang is a graduate from social university” was every attendant 1 This article was originally published in Selected Works of Tao Xingzhi’s Papers on Education in March 1947. 2 Huang Qisheng (1879–1946) was an educator born in Guizhou. During the late Qing Dynasty, he established the Dade School. He also participated in the Revolution of 1919. In 1921, he went to France to study under a work-study program. When he came back to China, he sponsored Zunyi Middle School. In 1929, he went to teach in Xiaozhuang Normal School in Nanjing. After the “Mukden Incident,” he was actively engaged in anti-Japanese national salvation movement. In 1945, he went to Yan’an. And on April 8, 1946, he died in a plane crash together with Wang Ruofei and Ye Ting when their plane to Yan’an flew over the top of Black Tea Mountain in Xingxian, Shanxi.

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convinced. The social university referred to by Mr. Jiang is exactly the intangible social university I am taking about. Now that Mr. Huang Qi has scored notable achievements as a graduate from this intangible university, so let us make solid progress with our study in this university, pursue truth, and serve the public. Tangible social universities refer to night universities, morning univer­ sities, correspondence universities, journalistic universities, tourism universities, and broadcasting universities. The social universities in Chongqing are night universities, voluntarily established by vocational youngsters. Vocational youngsters in some places of Chongqing do not start working until 9 o’clock. They have two to three hours for study every morning. Therefore, morning universities can be established to meet the needs of these youngsters. According to my estimation, the number of young people attending night universities and morning universities has already reached four million. Every year, there are altogether 110 thousand high school graduates. Yet only around ten thousand of them are able to be admitted into formal universities. In other words, more than ninety thousand people are denied access to formal universities. Assume that everyone needs to study hard at least from sixteen to forty, then the number of young people denied access to universities is increased to 2.16 million based on a rough calculation. After deducting the 160 thousand who are either dead or seriously ill, there should be two million high school graduates who are in need of an opportunity to further their studies in normal universities. In addition, there are freshman, sophomore, and junior students who have to drop out of school in order to find a job to support themselves. There are people who have received a four-year university education but now feel the need for further study because times have changed. There are also a huge group of self-study youngsters who can make even more rapid progress if they are able to enjoy what social universities have to offer. As long as one is able to understand lectures and take notes, he is qualified to enter social universities. Then based on my estimation, there should be at least two million more people who also need to further study in social universities. Thus, according to my estimation, there are a total of four to five million vocational youngsters who need to further their studies in social universities. Under this context, we should carry out a social university movement across the country by establishing night universities and morning universities in each and every city so as to meet the huge demand. Undoubtedly, night universities and morning universities can be established as subsidiaries of orthodox universities. But it is particularly necessary to set up independent night universities and morning universities. These universities can be set up by vocational youngsters,

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forward-looking scholars, and enthusiasts, either separately or collectively. All things must be kept simple. We should never complicate measures to stand in the way of the development and popularization of education because of our unrealistic dreams or ambitions. Thus, the second mission of the social university movement is to popularize and develop night universities and morning universities. In comparison, correspondence universities and broadcasting universities need to be run in a centralized manner. Tourism universities are composed of three types, namely, oceanic-tourism universities, land-travel universities, and air-travel universities. Journalism universities are focused on good newspapers, supplemented by good magazines and supported by frequent symposiums. Therefore, the third mission of the social university movement is to effectively carry out these causes. All social universities should cherish a shared purpose, whether they are tangible or not. The purpose of universities advocated by Confucius is to “promote noble virtues, enable people to constantly renew themselves and seek highest good.” However, times are different now. We recommend modifying it into: “The purpose of higher education is to promote noble virtues, establish a close relationship with the general public and ultimately improve the wellbeing of all people.” The primary purpose of a social university is to first understand people’s great virtues. People’s great virtues can be divided into four kinds. First, awareness. People should have an awareness that the Republic of China is a big enterprise and every citizen is its boss: men are male bosses, women are female bosses, adults are big bosses, and children are young bosses. Second, unity. Bosses should have strength, and strength comes from unity. Without unity, there is no strength. And thus atrocious staff will not obey our orders! Therefore, we must unite! All my fellow citizens must unite to be bosses. Third, liberation. Once we have strength, we need to seek liberation. We must unite together and build up our strength in the struggle for liberation. We should learn to fight for six liberations: (1) liberation of mind, (2) liberation of hands, (3) liberation of eyes, (4) liberation of mouth, (5) liberation of space, (6) liberation of time. Fourth, creation. The liberated strength must be put to use widely. It should be used for creation, creation of a new self, creation of a new China, and creation of a new world. The second purpose of a social university is to establish a close relation­ ship with ordinary citizens. We are convinced that establishing a close relationship with ordinary citizens is more appropriate than renewing people. We must become members of the general public, establish close relationships with them, become their family, and make sure that they recognize us as their family.

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Another purpose of a social university is to improve the well-being of people. All kinds of knowledge should be aimed at improving people’s wellbeing. The so-called people’s well-being, in common people’s words, refers to good fortune, prosperity, longevity, and happiness. Only by aiming at bringing good fortune, prosperity, longevity, and happiness to people can our study benefit the people and thus can social university lives up to its name. Only when social universities take improving people’s well-being as their ultimate objective can the social university movement develop into a major movement that is worthy of people’s participation. March 1946

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A Proposal for Universal Education in China1 i Principles A.

The essentials of the universal education. 1. The modernization of the whole nation, instead of merely enrolling school-aged children and unschooled adults to schools 2. The modernization of the entire lifestyle, instead of merely being able to read, or say, eliminate illiteracy 3. The modernization of the entire lifespan, instead of merely taking the four-month-, one-year-, two-year- or four-year-long compulsory education. The most important achievement in education is helping people to build the determination of seeking continuous development together. Our attitude toward people’s development is never too old to learn and practice. B. What kind of education should be popularized? The life education we promote shall contain three indispensable components: work to support a living, learn science to understand life, and form groups to protect lives. Missing any of them would make the education incomplete. C. We shall be aware that China is struggling with poverty. Therefore, we have to educate the poor people in a practical way to meet their needs. We shall not use those extravagant educational methods meant for the wealthy, which would be unhelpful for the poor. D. The society is a school. We shall integrate the society with the school and the social education with the school education. E. Pass on knowledge as soon as one learns it. Those who have knowledge should teach others. Those who lack knowledge should learn from others. The ones who cannot teach do not deserve the education. F. Children have great power. We shall believe that children can be little teachers. The best teachers for children are those children making progress. If the Yellow River were about to burst, a small rock carried by a child should be welcomed and 1 This article was originally published in Life Education, Volume 2, Issue 1, March 1, 1935.

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encouraged. We shall realize that China is facing such a critical moment such that we shall summon everyone’s power to save the country. All children who start to read or have some skills ought to be called on to be little teachers. After ten months of experiment, we find the little teachers have the following strengths: 1. They can solve the problem of women’s primary education. 2. Adults who pursue modern knowledge taught by children would be rejuvenated. 3. Knowledge is no longer treated as a commodity for sale. The implementation of “the world belonging to the people” has a solid foundation, which means all people get the chance to gain knowledge. 4. The little teachers are like wires that convey the electricity between the society and the schools. They are also like blood vessels that connect the society and the school to form a whole body. In that way, the society becomes the school. 5. The universal education led by the little teachers increases the interests of adult teachers in their career. The masses have great power. People’s best teachers are those who have made progresses. People from the masses could become teachers and pass on knowledge. We shall welcome whoever comes to learn and take the initiative to bring knowledge to people. We shall turn the useless into useful. We shall share the surplus with the insufficient. We shall try to make the education tax correspond with education rights. We shall improve education in urban and rural areas simultaneously. Both persuasive and compulsory methods shall be adopted. We shall persuade people to pursue education while working. We shall not force people to go to school at the expense of losing their jobs. We shall make it compulsory for the government to establish schools, for teachers to teach, and for people to pursue knowledge. We shall allow different opinions and not force people in a Procrustean way. We shall make full use of existing places in everyday life, such as families, shops, factories, offices, temples, civil corps, armies, prisons, and schools, where people live and work together, as the venues for basic education. We shall use the most advanced means of transportation to spread knowledge, so that the less educated areas will catch up with the rest.

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ii Measures A. Encourage primary school students across the country to be little teachers. 1. According to the latest statistical report from the Ministry of Education, there are over eleven million primary school students in public and private schools across the country. Each primary school student could become a little teacher when he/she find two adults or children who cannot go to school to become their students outside of school and get registered with the headmaster of the primary school. The little teachers will take the responsibility of passing on knowledge that they have learnt in school whenever they are outside of their schools. If two-thirds of the primary school students become little teachers, we could have fifteen million more students outside of schools. 2. Based on the statistics from cities and counties that have old-style private Chinese schools, we estimated that there are at least ten million students in old-style private schools in China. If half of those students become little teachers after the reform of the old-style private schools and each of them has two students, we could expect an increase of ten million students outside of schools. 3. Over fifteen million apprentices in workshops are literate. If half of them become little teachers teaching two students at each workplace, the number of students at workplaces will be increased by fifteen million. 4. Following the principle of “passing on knowledge as soon as one learns it,” students of the little teachers can take on at least one student of their own. The number of students of the three types of little teachers described previously totals up to forty million. If half of those students become little teachers instantly and each of them have at least one student, the number of students would increase by another twenty million.  In sum, sixty million people would be progressing toward modernization when we implement the universal education program led by the little teachers nationwide. B. Encouraging literate adults across the country to be knowledge carriers. 1. The total number of adult students studying in schools is 944,289 in China. If all of them become knowledge carriers and teach two people who are not able to go to school, two million more people will be able to receive education.

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2. The number of literate adults at various places, such as families, shops, factories, labor unions, temples, churches, club houses, associations, cooperation, government offices, institutions, civil corps, and armies, approximates eighty million. If half of them could teach two people each, they will be able to education eighty million people. 3. Following the principle of “passing on knowledge as soon as one learns it,” if half of the above-mentioned eighty-two million students can take on one student of their own, another forty-one million people will be able to receive education.  In sum, 123 million people would be progressing toward modernization when we summoned the efforts of all literate adults in the country. Encouraging nationwide intellectuals to mentor the progression of education toward life modernization. 1. Each of the seven thousand researchers in research institutes, as well as professors and associate professors in universities, shall spend at least ten days every year during their vacations to attend provincial meetings on universal education, provincial seminars for administrative staff in education departments, and meetings on education reforms in rural areas. They shall prepare and contribute the most recent research according to their own specialties and the needs for popularizing modern life education, as references for the director of the ministry of education, school superintendents, and people working on rural education reform. 2. There are one hundred thousand university students and middle school teachers. Each of them shall spend at least ten days every year during their vacations to attend municipal meetings on universal education and seminars for primary school teachers. They shall prepare new materials for the progressing people and teachers according to their own specialties and the needs for popularizing modern life education. 3. We have one million middle school students and primary school teachers in China. Each one of them shall spend at least ten days every year during vacations to attend village/district-level meetings on universal education, meetings on old-style private school reform, and the little teachers’ league meetings. Based on their own interests, they shall prepare teaching materials for old-style private school tutors and little teachers according to the needs for popularizing modern life education. 4. Each overseas student who is not serving the intellectual society in China shall volunteer five days every year to contribute his efforts to popularize modern life education.

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Reform of the schools across the country. 1. All schools in the country shall contain three components: work to support a living, learn science to understand life, and form groups to protect lives. A school cannot be considered as a modern school if individuals do not work at school, their activities are not guided by science, or they do not perform as a team. Having these three components enables the modernization of the schools in China. 2. Schools should take the responsibility of supporting the popularization of the combination of “work, science, teamwork” at workplaces among the working population according to local conditions. 3. In addition to adopting the “work, science, teamwork” practice, primary schools across the country should also reform in the following aspects: a. All primary schools should include the out-of-school teaching activities of the primary school students as a formal course on social service. b. Primary school teachers should integrate teaching materials for little teachers as part of their own classes. Their teaching responsibilities should include mentoring and evaluating the little teachers’ job. c. We should ask primary students to copy their textbooks during the Chinese character writing class so that the copied textbooks could be used by students outside of schools. Middle school and primary school teachers usually only skim students’ work for Chinese character writing classes. Changing the content of the class into copying textbooks for universal education would make the class more meaningful for both students and teachers. Meanwhile, it could solve the issue of textbook shortages to some extent. 4. The reform of old-style private school: a. The old way of reforming old-style private schools was mostly providing short-term seminars to train those private school tutors and inspecting their classes, occasionally. However, merely training those private school tutors turned out to be ineffective in most cases, because the deep-rooted, old-fashioned teaching practices were very hard to change. We now suggest that each private school tutor invite two competent private school students to come to the seminar for old-style private school reform. Our recent experiments on this method showed promising results in improving the effects of the seminars. b. The old-style private schools are short of books and teaching aids. We will have to support the schools in these supplies if we want to reform these schools.

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c. Each place can decide the form and length of the seminars on oldstyle private schools reform according to local conditions, for instance, one- to two-hour weekly sessions consecutively for several years, intensive training during vacations, or the combination of the two. E. Exploit the “desert island in culture.” 1. We shall encourage middle schools to relocate to rural areas. Most of the middle schools in China are crowded in cities. We estimated that among the 554 senior high schools and 1,320 junior high schools, at least four-fifths, or say, 1,400 of them, should be relocated to rural areas. They should sell the school buildings and land in cities at high prices and use the money to purchase wasteland (occupying farmers’ cultivated land shall not be allowed) in rural areas and build buildings. There should be funding left to popularizing education in that district, as well. Each middle school shall take charge of popularizing education in an area of one hundred square li2 in a rural area. Within this area, each village shall establish one primary school and one school for the villagers. Middle school students shall teach in the village’s primary schools and villagers’ schools in groups. The number of middle school students in each teaching group can be decided according to the needs. The standard school hours for villagers’ school shall be one hour per day. The school hours for primary schools could vary from location to location according to different conditions, including wholeday, half-day, two hours, or one hour. Students in primary schools and villagers’ schools will practice the principle of “passing on knowledge as soon as one has learnt it” and spread out to teach those who are not able to go to schools. 2. Among the 846 normal schools in China, 90%, or say 750, of them shall be relocated to rural areas. Each normal school shall be in charge of popularizing education in an area of sixteen hundred square li around them, with the normal school located in the middle of the area, and four hundred square li in each direction. In that way, the farthest place in the area would be less than twenty li from the normal school. Students in the normal school shall be divided into groups of two, resulting in tens or hundreds of teaching teams, based on the different headcounts of the normal schools. Each team shall go to a village to establish one villagers’ school and one primary school. This procedure is the basic training. We’ll be introducing the centered instructions and 2 A Chinese mile is equal to half a kilometer.

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the travelling instruction teams in detail in the following session on the teacher training. 3. Places that are seldom reached by middle schools or normal schools, such as Xikang, Qinghai, Ningxia, Xinjiang, Mongolia, Tibet, and other culturally backward regions in the province, shall establish middle schools and normal schools through the collective efforts of the public and the government. One primary school and one villagers’ school should be established for each community with over five hundred residents. The schools should be able to enroll at least forty students, organized under the principle of “work, science, teamwork” and continuously expanding following the principle of “passing on knowledge as soon as one learnt it.” F. Teacher training. 1. Every primary school shall be a place to cultivate little teachers. To say this in a more traditional way, primary schools should become normal schools for children. Then, the 250 thousand primary schools in China will develop eleven million little teachers. 2. All old-style private schools should be transformed into places to train little teachers. According to our estimation, the five hundred thousand old-style private schools in China will cultivate ten million little teachers, if on average each of the old-style private schools trains twenty little teachers. 3. All villagers’ schools shall become places to cultivate knowledge carriers. The 53,873 villagers’ schools could then train one million knowledge carriers. 4.  Each village or each community shall establish one advancedresidents’ school. These schools shall enroll literate adults from families or workplaces and provide one-hour daily/weekly training sessions to them so that they could spread the knowledge to the public. 5. The reform of normal schools: a. Normal schools shall adopt the methods of training engineers and include three different ways of training in the programs, namely, individual training, training by travelling instruction teams, and centered training. For instance, a normal school shall hold a one-month centered training for the two hundred newly enrolled students. After the students learnt briefly about how to pursue knowledge, they shall be dispatched in groups of two to the villages. One hundred teaching groups would then be working in one hundred villages, each of them being responsible for an area of sixteen square li. Once they arrive at their working location, they would select at least two local farmers or children as their peer normal school students.

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Together, the team will be creating an education environment, which integrates work, science learning, and teamwork. The one hundred teaching groups would form a universal education network, covering a total area of sixteen hundred square li. If each of the teaching groups serves five hundred people, the one hundred teaching groups will be able to educate fifty thousand people all at once. The two normal school students shall take turns spending half the day teaching and half the day studying required courses by themselves. Their work and study will be monitored by travelling instructors, periodically. On Sundays, instead of taking holidays, the normal schools students shall receive six hours of centered training and instructions. (For detailed measures, please refer to the “Plan on Implementing Compulsory Education in Baoshan County Guanlan District.”) b. Normal schools shall open a course on mentoring little teachers. c. Offer short-term seminars on rural education reform for young literate residents or farmers. The content of the seminars shall include little teachers mentoring skills, the theory of “work, science learning, teamwork,” organizing cooperative groups, Chinese language, applied math, rural health service, new agriculture knowledge, nature science, social science, and others. After learning these subjects, these people could go back their village and initiate or become involved in the reform of rural areas, which is also the popularization of modern life education. Due to safety concerns, teachers in cities hesitate to work in rural areas. Therefore, we shall educate local young literate farmers so that they could take on the mission of realizing universal education in rural area. d. Each city/county shall hold at least ten days of seminars for primary teachers every year. The total hours for seminars on old-style private schools shall be no shorter than forty hours per year. e. Each province shall hold one meeting on provincial universal education and one seminar for administrative staff in education departments every year. f. The Ministry of Education shall hold one meeting on national universal education every year. g. Universities and research institutes shall cultivate highly educated specialists to meet the needs of popularizing modern life education. G. The supply of teaching material and teaching aids. 1. Textbooks Textbooks shall be written in Chinese characters, with Chinese Pinyin for reference. The language shall be based on the everyday language of the masses. In order to meet the special needs of the minority

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ethnic groups and promote universal education among all ethnic groups, we shall also compile textbooks for special use among Mongolian, Tibetan, Miao, and Yao as well as other ethnic groups. Those textbooks shall use the language that is used by people from the ethnic groups. Primary students shall copy textbooks during their Chinese character writing classes. If, on average, each student can copy twelve volumes, or say, three sets, of textbooks per year, the twenty-one million primary students, including old-style private school students, will be able to copy sixty-three million sets of textbooks. The students of the little teachers and knowledge carriers can also take part in copying textbooks. Adding on to their contributions, it won’t be difficult to produce 100 million free textbooks every year. 2. Newspapers All newspapers shall use the language used by the general public and use punctuation marks. Post offices shall not deliver newspaper that fail to meet this requirement. 3. Movies The central government shall establish science movie studios, investing huge sums of money in the research and production of science movies, electric generators, and movie projectors. The movies and equipment shall be dispatched to counties, villages, and towns across the country for free. 4. Radio The central government shall invest huge sums of money in establishing radio production factories to research and produce radios. Radios produced shall be dispatched to education facilities in counties, villages, and towns across the country. Meanwhile, we shall select appropriate locations at each district to set up large broadcasting stations that will broadcast modern knowledge. H. The utilization of existing facilities. 1. We shall make use of all kinds of buildings as teaching sites, including ancestral halls, temples, club houses, association venues, schools after school hours, and any other vacant buildings. 2. We shall do our best to make use of the furniture owned by the public, such as desks, chairs, and benches. 3. We shall hold classes outdoors as often as possible, when it is warm and the weather is good. 4. We shall make the best use of daylight and avoid using lights unless necessary. With the popularization of education, eighty million families will pursue knowledge. If each household light one oil lamp one

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hour longer every night, the yearly expenditure would reach eighty million yuan in rapeseed oil and 320 million yuan in imported oil. It’s better for us to save money whenever we can. Mobile education. 1. Mobile populations could be found in markets, tea houses, piers, bus stations, theaters, and cinemas. We could always meet large groups of people at these places, and the groups of people could be different from day to day. Yet many tea lovers or theater fans go to the same tea house/theater every day at a fixed time. Hence, meaningful education could be conducted at those places. Feasible examples of mobile education include exhibitions in bus stations, posters on piers, film clips on new knowledge in cinemas, reformed storytelling at tea houses, sarcastic punchlines of the characters in theaters, and public speeches in markets. 2. Schools shall set up mobile libraries that are open to the public. The little teachers and knowledge carriers can borrow and return books on behalf of their students. In that way, management expenditures for the libraries could be reduced to the minimum level, the problem that ordinary people are often too shy to go to libraries could be solved, and the library books are unlikely to get lost. We shall make every effort to popularize mobile libraries as they are important places for the public to study by themselves. 3. Traveling is a great educational experience during which one can acquire knowledge and broaden his or her horizon. However, the current discounted group ticket prices, which are half of the full prices, are still too expensive for workers, peasants, and children. We shall especially promote meaningful study trips, which are well organized and scheduled. We shall also try to reduce state-owned transportation vehicles’ costs to the minimum level or even offer free trips to support study trips. The fast delivering of knowledge and culture. 1. We shall clear all unnecessary administrative obstacles in transporting electric generators, water pumps, and other farming machines by train. 2. It usually takes months or even over a year to deliver books to border areas. We shall purchase several airplanes for the special purpose of delivering knowledge and culture and promoting universal education. 3. We shall broadcast new knowledge via radio. 4. The post offices treat border areas as foreign countries. The postage for areas like Tibet and Xinjiang is so high that it almost prevents

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Chinese culture from reaching these areas. It could be easier for foreign countries to approach them. It is an urgent requirement for us to solve this issue and to offer a flat postage rate to promote culture exchange between the inland and border areas. K. The effective subsidy. 1. The central government shall provide culturally backward regions, such as provinces in poverty and border areas, with substantial subsidies in terms of human resources, funding, and supplies. 2. Provincial governments shall provide culturally backward poor counties with substantial subsidies in terms of human resources, funding, and supplies. 3. County governments shall provide culturally backward poor villages with substantial subsidies in terms of human resources, funding, and supplies. 4. Provincial, municipal, and county governments shall provide institutions that made outstanding efforts in promoting and experimenting universal education with substantial subsidies in terms of human resources, funding, and supplies. 5. The government shall provide financial support to talented children from poor families so that they could learn and develop intellectually to their fullest, despite their poverty. L. The efforts of the public. 1. Establish the National Association on Universal Education. 2. Establish the provincial, municipal, county-level, village-level, border region, and overseas Chinese Association on Promoting Universal Education. M. Research experiment. We shall establish a central research institute on universal education that aims at developing the most cost-effective, expeditious, sustainable, and effective measures to promote education in order to meet the needs of the positive life of the public. This institute shall collaborate with other research institutes, which study public health, agriculture, industry, transportation, art, and economy. The research institutes shall work together on new research topics, cultivating highly educated scholars, so that the talents from across the country can make joint efforts in improving the national economy and the people’s well-being. N. The mobilization of national financial resources to popularize education in China. 1. We shall make sure that the education tax collected is enough for universal education. Before we impose the education tax, the provincial

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bureaus of finance shall not plead relief tax/surcharge burden as an excuse for reducing educational funding and in terms of jeopardizing the development of education in China. Anyone who violates this rule shall be charged with the crime of harming the interests of the country through destroying the education system. Before we ensure enough funding for education, we shall cut provincial expenditures on the military and politics and use the money to support universal education. 2. We shall impose an inheritance tax to support universal education. The descendants can use their inheritances to support their education and living. Any amount beyond what is necessary to meet basic needs shall be disclosed to the public and used for the benefits of the public. It is better for the older generations to only pay for their children’s education and basic living. If children receive huge inheritances and don’t work for anything, they will be spoiled and indulge in eating, drinking, gambling, and visiting prostitutes. In the end, the family will break up. Therefore, even if the government does not impose taxes on inheritance, rich people shall donate their wealth to promote education, as long as the living and education conditions of their own children are ensured. 3. The government shall allocate state-owned wasteland for the use of universal education. 4. Half of the Boxer Rebellion Indemnity money from the United States, France, Belgium, Italy, and England shall be used for universal education. The other half shall be used for developing research institutes. 5. Government officers or county governors shall visit all cities and villages with directors of education departments or school superintendents to persuade people to use the existing estate, such as the associates, club houses, ancestral halls, and temples, for educational purpose. If those estates are not available or not enough, they shall persuade people to raise funds for education. They shall stay at the place and not leave until applicable measures are confirmed with local people. More than a decade ago, a county governor in Zhejiang province adopted this method and successfully established over one hundred schools within six months. 6. We shall persuade people to spend less on weddings and funerals, and instead to contribute the money to universal education as a better way to celebrate the memorable occasions. 7. We shall persuade people to donate books and stationery, regardless of the amount of their donations. Names of donors shall be stamped on the donated materials.

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8. We shall support the establishment of all kinds of “work, science learning, teamwork” groups. These groups will be able to support part of their own educational expenditures when they develop to a certain stage. (For details, please refer to the cotton production “work, science learning, teamwork” group as described in the “Plan on Implementing Compulsory Education in Baoshan County Guanlan District.”) 9. We shall reduce vacation periods for middle and higher-level schools. Meanwhile, we shall also cancel classes that are not useful for life modernization so that the length of the middle or higher-level schools can be shorter (except for medical majors). Expenditures saved with these changes could be used as funding for universal education and research institutes. The crime of hindering the pursuit of education. We met five big obstacles when promoting the program of little teachers: mother-in-laws do not allow daughter-in-law to study; bosses do not allow staff to go to school; supervisors do not allow their apprentices to read newspapers, and factory managers do not allow workers to pursue knowledge; and the old-style scholar-bureaucrats refuse to let their sons teach children. These also greatly hinder the development of the nation. Hence, we must clear these obstacles to make any progress. In order to achieve this, the following legislation is necessary: 1. All Chinese citizens and their children have the right to spend at least one hour per day on schooling or self-study. 2. Anyone who takes advantage of his or her privileged status and violates people’s right to go to school or self-study shall be punished with up to one year of imprisonment or a penalty of up to one thousand yuan. 3. Anyone who interferes with voluntary teaching activities shall be punished with up to three months of imprisonment or a penalty of up to one hundred yuan. The preparatory orders on compulsory primary literacy education. We shall put forth preparatory orders on compulsory literacy education. The orders aim at reminding illiterate people to voluntarily find someone to teach them. In the past, we have to plead with people to learn. With the preparatory orders, we could change people’s passive refusal of knowledge into an active pursuit of knowledge.  On January 1, the twenty-fourth year of the Republic of China, the government shall inform the public that every Chinese citizen will have to finish learning at least one of the several A Thousand Characters books, as suggested by the Department of Education, by December 31, the same

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year. Reminders of the order shall be publicized on the first day of April, July, and November. After the issuance of the first reminder in April, the government shall ask primary school students, storytellers at tea houses, and police officers to publicize the order everywhere. Cinemas shall also put up stating this order. They shall persuade people to start learning early and not plan to make a last-minute-effort to do so. It should also be made clear that from as of January 1, the twenty-fifth year of the Republic, literate police officers will randomly check people passing by using A Thousand Characters the same way they check luggage at the city gate, bus stations, piers, and tunnels. Those who fail to will have to pay a penalty of one copper yuan coin. In addition to that, starting the same day, households, shops, factories, and any government offices are subject to a penalty of one silver yuan per month for every illiterate member who does not have justifiable reasons for not learning. The penalty shall be paid by the head of the house, owner of the shop, factory manager, and director of the government office. Literate adults or students are subject to a penalty of ten silver cents if they refuse to teach their illiterate relatives or friends. Their names will also be announced to the public. Assessment criteria. 1. The assessment standard of the primary literacy education is that 90% of population aged at or above school-age shall be able to read from A Thousand Characters and 95% of the population shall be able to sign and write their own names in Chinese characters. Separate standards will be set up for the second stage of literacy education and the popularization of education on other aspects in China. 2. At least half of the primary school students in each primary school or old-style private school shall become literacy teachers. The headmaster, teacher-in-charge, and the most outstanding literacy teacher will receive rewards if more than three-quarters of the primary school students become little teachers. The headmaster will receive a warning message if the school fails the criteria. The headmaster as well as the teacher-in-charge shall be discharged from their positions if the proportion of little teachers of the school is less than one-third. 3. The criteria of the proportion of knowledge carriers to the total numbers of students in villagers’ schools shall follow the standard for primary schools. 4. For the evaluation of government officers, including the directors of the provincial education departments, county governors, heads of the education bureaus, administrative chiefs of villages, and education commission members, we shall calculate the proportion of the sum

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of the number of little teachers and knowledge carriers to the total count of students in the public/private primary schools, old-style private schools, and people’s schools in the area that they are responsible for. The evaluation criteria for the calculated proportions shall be the same as that for the primary schools. 5. The education department in charge is responsible for announcing the evaluation date for each province, city, county, village, and school. The announcement shall be issued before June 1, the twenty-fourth year of the Republic. The Ministry of Education shall announce the date to evaluate the achievement of each province before April 1, the twenty-fourth year of the Republic. 6. Headmasters shall keep profiles of all students, including ordinary students at schools and students taught by little teachers and knowledge carriers, using standard registration templates. Once every semester, they shall submit detailed statistical reports to education bureaus, which will then forward the reports to education departments. Finally, the reports will be sent to the Ministry of Education. The education administrative officers at higher levels shall randomly check the quality of the reports and conduct evaluations based on the reports. R. The annual budget for the central government on implementing universal education for the twenty-fourth year of the Republic of China. 1. Universal education subsidy for culturally backward regions: 20,000,000 2. Funding for the central science movie studio: 4,000,000 3. Funding for the central research and production institute of radios: 1,000,000 4. The central universal education research institute: 500,000 5. The central tutorial meetings on universal education: 10,000 Total: 25,510,000

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The Universalization of Early Childhood Education1 Education shall start in early childhood. Children are like seedlings, which can be prosperous only when they have been cultivated properly. Otherwise, if they get hurt at a young age, even if they manage to survive, they won’t grow into useful wood. Therefore, elementary education is the foundation of a nation. And early childhood education is the base of the foundation. Elementary education should be universalized and should early childhood education. The question that we are most concerned with is how to universalize early childhood education. I would propose three steps to carry out the universalization of early childhood education. First, we should change our attitude. Many people don’t take children’s education seriously. In their opinion, it doesn’t matter if the children attend school one or two years earlier or later. We are often unaware of children’s needs, abilities, interests, and feelings. We ignore their education unconsciously and entrust them to elder maidservants or friends in the neighborhood. Under such a mindset, kindergartens won’t be well developed. Therefore, we must change such an attitude in order to promote the development of kindergarten. We should make people understand that childhood years are crucial, and child education is the most important education. The parents who care about their young children understand the importance of early childhood education. They are willing to send their children to kindergarten. However, these parents labor under a stereotype that should be corrected. They are unwilling to see their children be with children from poorer families. They believe their own children are good, while children from poor families are bad. They are afraid that their children will follow bad examples and become bad if they attend the same kindergarten as those from poor families. As a result, kindergartens become a privilege for rich people and pseudoscholars. We should know that people are equal in China. No one is above or below others. Such equality shall be cultivated among children, so that it will develop into equality among adults. The educators’ mission is to let “good” children influence the “bad” children instead of separating them. We shall 1 This article was originally published in Xiangjiao Congxun 2 (4) February 29, 1928.

© koninklijke brill nv, leiden, ���6 | doi 10.1163/9789004302853_023

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never consider rich families’ children as good ones, poor families’ children as bad ones. And more importantly, we shall not exclude children from poor families in order to defer to rich people’s opinions. If rich people and pseudoscholars don’t want their children to be put down by people when they grow up in new China, they should let their children be educated in the same kindergarten with poor families’ children. If the educators who run the kindergarten don’t want the kindergarten to be a temporary childcare center when the rich ladies play mahjong, they should open the doors of kindergarten to children in the entire society. As a result, kindergarten teachers will understand their mission is more than simply to keep an eye on the children. Instead, they shall let “good” children influence the “bad” children and use “bad” children’s strengths to improve “good” children’s weaknesses. The starting point of the kindergarten universalization is recognizing the importance of early childhood education. The starting point of the proper kindergarten universalization is admitting that the kindergarten is the place for educating all children in society. The hope of the kindergarten universalization lies in these two attitudes. Second, we should change the way of running kindergartens. Running kindergartens could be very costly. It would be difficult to universalize kindergartens unless we figure out ways to cut costs. Villages and workwomen communities need kindergartens most. In workwomen communities, the factories could cover the cost of running kindergartens. Even if the cost is high, it’s not too difficult for them to raise funds. However, it’s a different story in really impoverished rural areas. The universalization of less expensive elementary schools is already very challenging, not to mention kindergartens, which could cost double. It is not easier to popularize kindergartens in the countryside than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. We have to change our methods completely, based on the money-saving policy, so that it will be possible to found and universalize kindergartens in the countryside. Third, we need to adjust the system of training teachers. The most challenging task of education universalization is teachers’ training. The universalization of early childhood education requires at least one and a half million teachers. It is the most difficult issue, not only because the cost is huge but also because the training might not be effective. For instance, people trained to run kindergartens might not do relevant jobs after training, or they might run some kindergartens that are not consistent with our national circumstances, which will be even worse. Establishing early childhood education normal schools is indeed necessary. But we cannot cultivate new qualified kindergarten teachers unless we modify our early childhood education normal schools completely. Even so, we cannot just rely on formal early childhood

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education normal schools to train all teachers. We have explored a new strategy that makes us optimistic in solving the issue. The Early Childhood Education School of the Experimental Rural Normal College founded a rural kindergarten in Yanziji, which was named the Second Center Kindergarten. When the kindergarten was founded, Miss Xu,2 the kindergarten teacher, recruited three apprentices. They have learnt from Miss Xu how to run a kindergarten. Mr. Zhang Zonglin, their mentor, talked with me the day before yesterday. He said, the apprentice system could be promoted in elementary schools, and it would solve a big problem for rural elementary school teachers: the loneliness. I said, “This is true, indeed. The apprentice system can not only solve the issue of loneliness but also help to universalize education.” The universalization of early childhood education and primary education can only be achieved through an apprentice system. If each high-quality kindergarten can train two to three apprentices every year, one more kindergarten means one more training center of kindergarten teachers. It’s the best solution. According to my observation, each occupation that can be popularized has an apprentice system. You can see carpenters everywhere. Why is that possible? The apprentice system. Tailors, stonecutters, blacksmiths, and 340 million peasants all have this system, so these occupations are popularized. In fact, the combination of teaching, learning, and doing is an improved apprentice system. The traditional apprentice system has some defects. The apprentices might work hard but without a lot of thinking. The teachers might reserve some knowledge or skills when they teach. And they might abuse their apprentices. If we take the advantages and avoid the defects, the apprentice system would be very effective. If we use this strategy in kindergartens, I firmly believe it can help universalize early childhood education. Mr. Chen Heqin and I had a very pleasant talk recently. He suggested that we could experiment in the Gulou Kindergarten. The Gulou Kindergarten is the most interesting place for research. Now, it is determined to enroll some apprentices as an experiment in increasing kindergarten teaching resource. I cannot agree more. The above-mentioned three steps of universalizing early childhood education is only my two cents. There could be some half-baked ideas. Everyone who cares about the well-being of young children, please share with me your thoughts and suggestions. I will really appreciate that.

2 Miss Xu: Xu Shibi, an director of early childhood education in Xiaozhuang Normal School, was from Nanling in Anhui Province.

chapter 23

The Education of Peasants1 Mr. Yang2 and I had a discussion on topics that included how to build the country on the base of agriculture, how to evolve from the agricultural civilization to the industrial civilization, and how to empower peasants to lead industry and commerce. In this article, I will briefly talk about my recent thoughts on these questions. How to educate the peasants so that they can lead a better life? Let’s take cotton planting as an example. Peasants labored over the planting of the cotton, yet after the harvest, they lost their control over the cotton. They sell the cotton to the cotton mill at a low price, and the cotton mill can price its products as it wishes. Then the products go into the weaving mill and then go into the market. The price has been raised throughout the procedures. The peasants have sold the cotton at a very low price, but they have to pay way more to purchase cotton clothes. We have to figure out a way to bridge the gap among the cotton mill, the weaving mill, and the market. In this way, the peasants will occupy a leading position among industry and commerce. Then the cotton price could make a rise, and so could the people who plant the cotton. I reckon this is achievable. For example, there are twenty-five million peasants in Jiangsu Province. We assume each family consists of five peasants, so there would be five million families. If every family contributes one yuan, then five million yuan will be raised. The peasants can use this five million yuan to build cotton mills and become the shareholders. They can process their own cotton into their own mills. Each family could further contribute one yuan to establish weaving mills and shops. In this way, the intermediate steps will be trimmed and the twenty-five million peasants can enjoy more profit. In the process of industrialization, it is certain that many people will lose their jobs during the weeding-out process. With the development of machines, manual works are being replaced. This phenomenon is unavoidable. Since we are going to connect the agriculture with the industry, people who have lost their jobs due to the machines, can work in cotton mills, weaving mills, and

1 This was a speech Tao Xingzhi made in Xiaozhuang Experimental Rural Normal School. It was originally published in Xiangjiao Congxun 1 (16) August 15, 1927. 2 Mr. Yang was Yang Xiaochun, instructor of Xiaozhuang Normal School, who was responsible for academic work.

© koninklijke brill nv, leiden, ���6 | doi 10.1163/9789004302853_024

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shops. With peasants being in charge of the industry and commerce, a great deal of unemployment risk for peasants can be avoided. Dr. Sun Yat-sen’s grand industry plan also included the above-mentioned undertaking. He advocated the use of national capital and foreign capital to develop the domestic industry. If his plan is carried out, the peasants would need to be taught to exercise their civil rights and utilize the state power, so that they could take a leading role in industry. If the use of the national capital needs to be prioritized, it should be first used to pave thousands of miles of railways, which is crucial for the rise of the peasants. If the goods cannot be shipped out of the mills or factories, then overproduction will lead to low prices. The business will fail. So the first step of developing industry is to pave the railways. If the national capital can only support the construction of the railways, we shall use the peasants’ own capital and labor force to found the mills, gradually. This is a necessary policy. If the peasants would cooperate with the government and make efforts together, they can expect faster improvement in their lives. Yet, but the next question would be: how to persuade the peasants to contribute one yuan each to become shareholders? And, how to empower them to exercise their civil rights? Both issues count on the efforts of comrades who are working on the rural education. The peasants won’t understand the largescale industrialization movement, or the concepts of civil rights. The new ideas should be advertised through public talks, so that the peasants will be inspired. More importantly, we should train rural teachers for the peasants. Suppose there are a hundred families in a village. Then five million families would form fifty thousand villages. If fifty thousand rural teachers have received special training, the union of these fifty thousand teachers would be equivalent to the union of fifty thousand villages. The peasants’ capital could accumulate through this union. When the peasants have raised enough money, they can run cotton mills, weaving mills, and so on. The cotton would get a good price, and the peasants would rise in quality of life. The rural teachers shall also teach the peasants how to exercise their civil rights, such as the right to vote, recall, initiate, and make a referendum. All these are only a small part of what I have thought about concerning these issues in the past month. I planted sweet potatoes last month. I learnt that only when the sweet potatoes grow roots underground, and stems and leaves above the ground, could they live. So if we wish China to be prosperous, China has to grow her roots in the agriculture and develop her industry and commerce as stems and leaves. This is a huge issue that I hope everyone will pay attention to and study carefully.

Index Analytical Dictionary of Characters 67 Annual Conferences of Chinese Vocational Education Institute, the 43 Association of National Education Committee, the 40, 40 n. 4 A System of Ethics 5 n. 2 A Thousand Characters for the People  115, 117, 122 n. 4 Attached Elementary and Secondary School of Southeast University, The 44 Badoushan Elementary School 93 Bao Zheng 16 Beijing Normal University 45 Beijing Yiwen Secondary School 44 Berlin University 5 Bi Laisi 115 Central Government Education Conference, the 43 Cheng Benhai 6 n. 1 Chen Heqin 117, 117 n. 2, 151 Chen Rong 43, 43 n. 7 China Education Improvement Institute, the  42–45, 43 n. 8, 57 n. 1, 92, 114, 115, 119, 121 China’s Education Reform 57 n. 1, 92 n. 1 Chinese Joint Conference of Provincial Education 43 Chinese Vocational Education Institute, the  42, 43, 71 n. 2 communist 11 Confucianism 12 Confucius 5, 32, 40, 49, 51, 71, 75, 78, 132 Dai Dongyuan 12, 12 n. 4 Dai Zian 9 n. 1 Dalton Plan 44 Dewey 9–11, 47, 49, 52, 73 discipline education 13, 13 n. 6 Doctrine of the Mean 12 East Tour Diary 42 Edison 31, 34 Education Dictionary 39 n. 1

Faraday 34 Five-segment teaching method 49 Frobel, Friedrich 52, 88 From Easy to Advanced 115 Fundamental Discussion about the Differences of Education between the Western and the Eastern Continent, The 43 Great Learning 12 Guangxu 40, 42 Gulou Kindergarten 44, 151 Guo Bingwen 43 Han Zishi 124 Heping School 14, 15 Herbart 49 Huang Qisheng 130, 130 n. 2 Huang Yanpei 42 Huian (Zhu Xi) 70, 70 n. 2 Hui Yin 6 n. 1 Imperial Ancestral Temple 32 Jiang Menglin 35 n. 1 Jiangning County Normal School 93 Jiangsu Compulsory Education Association, the 42 Jiang Tonghou 124 Jiang Wenyu 130 Joint Conference of Attached Elementary Schools 43 Joint Conference of Secondary Education  43 Kaiyuan Elementary School 93 Kilpatrick 11 Lei Wanmin 14 n. 7 Lexicon 117, 117 n. 2 Li Bai 7 Life Education 16–18, 40, 60 n. 2, 61, 103, 108, 134, 134 n. 1, 137, 141 Liu Boming 23 Liu Shihou 14

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Index

Li Ziyun 123 Lü Diaoyuan 124 Lu Shaoliu 124

Southeast University 4, 43 n. 7, 45 Sun Mingxun 9 n. 1 Sun Yat-sen, Dr. 153

Ma Lianjia 124 May Fourth Movement 115 McCall, Dr. 45 Mencius 4 Meng Lu 42 Mingling Elementary School 93 Mo Di 72, 72 n. 3 Monkey-king 28 Montessori 52, 88

Ta Kung Pao 28 n. 1 Tang Jing’an 115 Tao Xingzhi vii–xi, 2, 3 n. 1, 9 n. 1, 9 n. 2, 29, 35 n. 1, 39 n. 1, 46 n. 1, 57 n. 1, 86 n. 2, 130 n. 1, 152 n. 1 Temporary Education Conference, the 43 Three People’s Principle, the 30 Tixue officers 42, 42 n. 6 Tsinghua University 115

Nanjing Anhui Public School 44 Nanjing Higher Normal School 42, 43, 43 n. 7 National Association of Mass Education Movements, the 43, 115 New Education 19 n. 1, 2, 35, 46–56, 67–70, 104 New Educational Review 81 n. 1, 86 n. 2, 88 n.1

Village School Teacher 9 n. 1, 15

Paulsen, Professor F. 5, 5 n. 2 Pestalozzi 52 Plan on Implementing Compulsory Education in Baoshan County Guanlan District    141, 146 populism 20, 40

Xiangshan Charity School 120 Xiaozhuang 9 n. 1, 60 Xiaozhuang Drama Club 9, 9 n. 2 Xiaozhuang Normal School 29, 130 n. 2, 151 n. 2, 152 n. 2 Xiaozhuang Primary School 29 Xie Xuelin 124 Xiong Bingsan 115 Xiqiao Gongxuetuan 60 Xunzi 68 Xu Shibi 151 n. 2 Xu Shuzheng 127

Qianzi (Qian Youtong) 70, 70 n. 4 Qing Dynasty 8, 12 n. 4, 13 n. 6, 39 n. 3, 42 n. 6, 43, 87, 115, 130 n. 2 Regius School Regulations 42 Replacing the Prince with a Cat 16 Republic of China, the 40, 42–45, 97, 125–129, 126 n. 3, 132, 146, 148 Republic of Five Nationalities, the  126, 126 n. 2, 127 Riebau (George Riebau) 34 Schools of Tomorrow 15 self-automated school 29 self-motivatism 19, 19 n. 2 Shanhai Gongxuetuan 60 Shatsky 11, 11 n. 3

Wang Boqiu 115, 117 World Education Conference, the 44 World’s New Trend of Thought in Education  3 n. 1 Wu Rulun 42

Yangming (Wang Shouren) 70, 70 n. 3 Yang Xiaochun 152 n. 2 Yan Yangchu 115 Yanziji Elementary School 44, 93 Yaohuamen Elementary School 44, 93 Yuan Xitao 43, 43 n. 8 Yu Ziyi 42, 43 Zeng Zi 72, 72 n. 4 Zhang Zonglin 151 Zhu Jingnong 39 n. 1, 115, 121